


Writing's on the Wall

by BaddieBee69



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Conflicted Draco Malfoy, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Death Eater Draco Malfoy, Draco Malfoy Redemption Arc, During Canon, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Gryffindor Main Character, Hate Sex, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Insomnia, Multi, Nightmares, Oral Sex, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), POV Original Character, Quidditch, Rough Sex, Second War with Voldemort, Semi-Public Sex, Slight Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Swearing, but it gets less toxic the further in you go, i won't lie, like the type that leaves marks, they're kinda toxic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:47:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26675398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaddieBee69/pseuds/BaddieBee69
Summary: At eleven, Marinette “Mari” Adler just wanted to be friends with everyone, even Draco Malfoy. At twelve, Mari was crying in the bathroom after Draco called her a halfbreed when she caught sight of the Basilisk in the mirror. At thirteen, Mari stopped being nice to Draco. At fourteen, she caught his eye for the first time at the Yule Ball. At fifteen, she joined Dumbledore’s Army while he joined Umbridge’s Inquisitorial Squad. At sixteen, Mari returned to Hogwarts to find Draco had changed and she set out to get to the bottom of it. However, getting too close to him could send them both down a deadly path neither of them is equipped for. But as it seems, that’s already where they’re heading as the 2nd war against Voldemort unfolds both inside and outside the gates of Hogwarts.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s), Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood, Original Character(s)/Original Character(s), Seamus Finnigan/Dean Thomas
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

The countryside blurred green as the Hogwarts express hurtled down its track. Somewhere behind her, Luna was talking, but to Mari, she just sounded like white noise. It’s not that Mari didn’t find her anecdotes on the latest edition of The Quibbler interesting, she just had a whole other plethora of issues at hand. For example, she wasn’t even supposed to be hanging out with Luna in the first place. She wasn’t supposed to be hanging out with any of her friends sitting with her in their compartment. 

Not after the trouble, they’d gotten into the year before, her mother had expressly banned it. Maybe Mari wouldn’t have spent the whole summer grounded had she not joined Harry and the others at the Ministry and nearly gotten herself killed by Deatheaters. But who would she be if she’d stayed behind while her friends went and fought and did nothing to help. 

Her father understood that, but he’d never been able to bend her will especially when she was raging like she had been that Spring. She could still remember the way she’d screamed at her the morning after. Any other day Mari wouldn’t have just sat and taken it as she had. But with zero hours of sleep behind her and the screams Harry had let out when Sirius died still fresh in her mind she did.

After yelling at her, Lauren Adler wept and sent her daughter to bed realizing how tired she must be and told her they’d talk about it when she woke up. Mari still ended up grounded though.

“We’re nearly there.” Luna lightly nudged her, rousing her from her thoughts.

“Where’s Potter?” She asked looking up from the window.

Luna shrugged. “Elsewhere.”

“Alright.” Mari chuckled, looking around the compartment. Neville was talking to his frog, Trevor. Ginny had apparently joined them while she was staring out the window and Ron and Hermione were talking quietly to each other, lost in their own conversation. “I’m going to change.” She said, rising from her seat. With no resistance from her friends, Mari slipped out the compartment door. When she got to the changing room she quickly slipped out of her muggle clothes. She reached down to pull her wand out of her shoe, running her fingers over the groves of the Laurelwood.

Her wand was exactly 12 inches long, laurelwood with a phoenix feather core and unyielding flexibility. The handle was distinguished from the end by braided woven grooves that ended about 5 inches. A small ball no larger in diameter than the rest of the wand separated the braided handle from the smooth end. Her mind wandered back to when she’d first got it. It was a good memory. Her father had brought her to get her school supplies the summer before her first year. But Mari couldn’t help but think about the last time she used her wand. She pushed that night from her memory and set it down. She could feel the train slowing down as she finished changing and hurriedly left for her compartment to grab her bag, only to slam straight into none other than Draco Malfoy. 

“Watch it!” She hissed as her wand fell from her hand and clattered to the floor.

“Maybe if you paid attention to where you were going, Adler.” He fired back as she dropped to her knees to grab her wand.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t hex you where you stand, Malfoy?” She glared up at him.

“You’re on your knees in front of me, for one.” He remarked. “And you don’t even have your wand in hand.”

She scoffed, grabbing her wand and rising from her knees. “Fuck off, Draco. I don’t need a wand to punch you in the nose.”

“Why don’t you try it then?” He asked sharply, crossing his arms as he blocked her exit.

“You are not worth the energy it would take to break your nose.” She said sharply, shoving past him.

“If you change your mind you know where to find me.”

Mari flipped him off, not looking back as she walked back to her compartment. It made sense she and Draco would hate each other, with her father being a member of the Order and his being a Death Eater but she could still remember when she was a starry-eyed 11-year-old who just wanted to be friends with everyone. Her father had been sure she would be a Hufflepuff but was pleasantly surprised when she informed him she’d been sorted into Gryffindor after 3 and a half minutes with the Sorting Hat on her head, nearly making her a hatstall.

On the first day of class, Mari had greeted Draco the same way she’d greeted everyone, happily with a smile on her face and at first, he’d been surprised by her kindness but when he realized who she was, more specifically who her father was, he quickly shut her down. 

“I know who you are.” He’d said. “You’re the girl who's Muggle Liaison father fell in love with a Muggle. My father’s told me all about your family.”

That wasn’t the last time Mari tried to be nice to Draco Malfoy. But 2nd year came and so did a worse degree of horrible. So bad she couldn’t be nice not after he began freely throwing around the word Mudblood, or strutted around the castle gleefully when the Basilisk was petrifying students. 

She had been just about ready to snap his neck when she was petrified herself. She confronted him as respectfully as she could manage only for him to call her a halfbreed in front of everyone. She’d fled to the bathroom to cry and caught sight of the Basilisk in the mirror. She spent 5 weeks petrified and was informed by her Ravenclaw friend, Cullen Briggs when she woke that Draco had laughed when the news about her broke. After that, she fully returned his hatred and the two of them had been at each other's throats since.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Ginny commented as they sat in a Thestral drawn carriage bringing them to Hogwarts. “What’re you thinking about?”

“Draco Malfoy,” Mari said honestly, looking out the window to the Thestrals pulling them along. The year before she hadn’t seen them, but after the Ministry battle, she could. She couldn’t call that an upgrade.

“What about him?” Ginny asked.

“The first time we met.” She shook her head. “It was a Potions class, the first day, I tried to be nice to him.”

“I’m sure that went well.”

“He humiliated me in front of everyone. I’m not sure how he did it, someone in the Muggle Liaisons Office marrying a muggle isn’t even scandalous, but somehow he made me want to sink into the floor for it.” 

“It wasn’t as bad as you think.” Neville offered, clinging to one of his plants. “I was there, I think only Malfoy and the other Slytherins were laughing.”

Mari chuckled. “Thanks, Neville.”

Ginny sat forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Don’t give Malfoy and a bit of mind. He hates everyone who’s not a pureblood Slytherin.”

“Trust me, I know.”

“I’m definitely gonna hex him again this year.” She decided, sitting back.

“Your infamous Bat-Bogey Hex?” Mari asked.

“Maybe.” Ginny pulled out her wand, flexing her fingers over the handle. “But I learned some new hexes over the summer that I’m eager to try, who better to practice on than Malfoy?”

“As long as it’s not me.” Neville shook his head, earning laughter from Mari and Ginny. 

The sun was setting behind Hogwarts when they arrived at the castle and quickly found seats at the Gryffindor table. When the twins were still at Hogwarts, they would play a game where they guessed the house of each first-year being sorted and whoever got the least right had to do a dare of the others choosing. Ginny and Mari had joined in around 4th year. On the train, Ginny had roped Neville into joining, promising they wouldn’t do the dare part since Fred and George had left Hogwarts. So as the 1st years filtered into the hall they warmed up.

“I think this year’s crop is gonna be easy.” Mari comforted Neville, who was still nervous despite the no punishment decision.

He nodded. “Okay.”

McGonagall got up at the front of the hall with a large scroll and the sorting hat in hand and began reading names. “Lisa Abbey.”

“Hufflepuff,” Ginny said surely as the small brown haired first year inched up to the stool.

“Yeah.” Mari agreed and Neville nodded.

McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on little Lisa’s head and the Great Hall was quiet for 3o seconds before the hat shouted “Hufflepuff!”

There were whoops and hollers throughout the hall for a minute and Mari gave Ginny a high five and squeezed Neville’s forearm while McGonagall waited for the room to calm down. Mari ignored the way cheers sounded more hollow than they had the year before. Before the wizarding world knew Voldemort was back. She chose to remember that they still had Hogwarts.

“Kevin Alexander.”

“Ravenclaw,” Mari said. “I’m getting Ravenclaw.”

“Gryffindor.” Ginny shook her head.

“I agree with Mari,” Neville said as Kevin sat down on the stool. McGonagall set the hat on his head for a few seconds before the hall was filled with a booming Gryffindor!

“Hah!” Ginny laughed. “Told you.”

The last few A-names were sorted, producing another Hufflepuff, a Ravenclaw, and a Slytherin. Mari looked past the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables to the Slytherin table where Draco was sitting quietly, not even noticing as Slytherin gained a new student. Weird, she thought, normally Draco whooped when a 1st year was sorted into Slytherin.

But McGonagall called out “Lorelei Briggs.” drawing Mari’s attention back up to the front.

“Hey, that’s Cullen’s little sister.” She said as the small girl that looked a lot like her big brother took the stool.

“Ravenclaw then,” Ginny said.

Mari shook her head. “I’m thinking Hufflepuff.”

“Ravenclaw.” Neville agreed with Ginny as Lorelei sat with the Sorting Hat on her head. It was too big for her and was slipping down her forehead as the seconds stacked up.

“How rude,” Mari remarked over her shoulder but watched in confusion as more time passed.

“This is a long one,” Ginny said.

“It’s only been a minute and a half.” Mari shook her head. “I was up there for almost 4 minutes.”

Ginny nodded. “Fred and George told me they thought you were gonna be Hufflepuff.”

“So did I, but now I’m not nearly as nice as I used to be so I think the sorting hat was right.” Mari laughed.

“Gryffindor!” The Sorting Hat declared after a few more seconds. 

“Woo!” Mari yelled and beckoned her over to sit with them, greeting her warmly. “Hi, I’m Marinette Adler, you can call me Mari. This is Neville, and that’s Ginny. We’re your brother’s friends.”

“Oh, so you're Mari?” Lorelei asked, sitting on her hands nervously. “Cullen talks about you.” 

Ginny laughed and Mari shook her head. “Take a guy to the Yule Ball once…”

Lorelei laughed but was clearly still nervous.

“Bit of a timid Gryffindor?” Mari asked and she nodded. “Don’t worry, I was too.” She clapped Neville on the shoulder. “And Neville here still is.”

“Plus we’ll hex anyone who’s mean to you,” Ginny said. 

“Yeah, there’s that too,” Mari said. “Weasley here is a master of the Bat-Bogey Hex.” 

“Yeah, oh shhh.” Ginny shushed them as McGonagall called another name.

“Elio Byrnes.”

“Slytherin,” Ginny said.

“What’re you doing?” Lorelei asked.

“Guess that house, Ravenclaw,” Mari stated.

“Slytherin then.” She said. “I met him on the train, he’s a Slytherin.” 

“Alright then, Slytherin.” 

Moments later, Lorelei was proven correct as the Sorting Hat bellowed Slytherin! The four continued their game throughout the rest of the sorting, Ginny winning in the end with 19 correct out of the 31 new students. The feast began and Lorelei went to talk to her brother. 

“Where the hell are Luna and Potter?” Mari asked.

“Harry could be just about anywhere,” Ginny said. “You know the way he is.”

“Of course, because he’s the chosen one.” Mari laughed. “Bet Hermione and Ron know. Should we go ask them?”

Ginny looked down the table to where Ron and Hermione were sitting. “Sure. Neville, you coming?”

Neville nodded. “I guess.”

Mari had been friends with Neville since the first year. It made sense for them to band together. They were both children of members of the Order, both of them were timid and shy Gryffindors everyone thought should be in Hufflepuff instead. They’d grown together, Mari becoming more “traditionally” Gryffindor, bold, brave, and courageous, and while most people still thought Neville should be in Hufflepuff, Mari disagreed.

She never doubted his Gryffindor-ness, even if he wasn’t the bold Gryffindor she’d turned into. He was loyal to his friends and he was brave even if people couldn’t see it. He’d joined Dumbledore’s Army and fought by her side in the Department of Mysteries.

Plus, Mari had found, Hufflepuffs were often some of the most outgoing people she knew. She had no idea why the meek and shy Hufflepuff was a stereotype in the first place.

“Where did Potter go this time?” Mari asked as they sat down with Ron and Hermione.

“He’s missing,” Hermione informed them and Ron nodded as he stuffed his face with food.

“Nice to see you care about your missing best friend,” Ginny said, watching her brother eat.

Ron gulped down the rest of his food to defend himself. “I do. I’m just hungry.”

“You have a funny way of showing your affection, Ronald,” Mari said. He shook his head, she’d been giving him a hard time for as long as they could remember. Her father was just a few years behind Mr. and Mrs. Weasley when they’d been at Hogwarts and they became friends. So Mari had known the Weasleys all her life.

“There he is,” Neville said, looking to the entrance of the great hall. They all turned and Harry joined them.

“What happened to your nose?” Ginny asked.

“Malfoy happened,” Harry stated and they all looked over to Malfoy, who quickly looked away.

“I knew I should’ve hexed him when I ran into him on the train.” Mari scowled.

“Luckily Luna came to my rescue.” Harry gestured to the Ravenclaw table where Luna had taken a seat. 

It was then Dumbledore took to the front of the hall interrupting their conversation.

“Very best of evenings to you all.” He started. “First off, let me introduce the newest member of our staff. Horace Slughorn. Professor Slughorn, I'm happy to say,  
has agreed to resume his old post as Potions Master.” 

Everyone clapped.

“Meanwhile, the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts will be taken by Professor Snape.”

The clapping dulled. 

“Now as you know, each and every one of you was searched upon your arrival here tonight and you have the right to know why. Once there was a young man, who like you, sat in this very hall, walked this castle's corridors, slept under its roofs. He seemed to all the world a student like any other. His name: Tom Riddle.”

The student body broke out in whispers.

“Today, of course, he's known all over the world by another name, which is why, as I stand looking out upon you all tonight, I'm reminded of a sobering fact: Every day, every hour, this very minute, perhaps, dark forces attempt to penetrate this castle's walls.” He paused “But in the end, their greatest weapon... is you. There's something to think about. Now off to bed, pip pip.”

“That’s fun,” Mari remarked to Ginny as they stood. In the crowd exiting the hall, Mari’s eyes found Draco. She could tell something was off, normally Draco scoffed at Dumbledore’s speeches and spent the feast talking among the Slytherins. He’d done none of that, sitting quietly the whole time. Even when they’d ran into each other on the train, he may have been an asshole but his usual cheery smugness was gone. He just seemed tired. 

“Mari!” A voice broke her from her thoughts. She looked back and Cullen was pushing through the crowd to get to her.

“Oh hey, Cullen, what can I do for ya?” She asked, letting him catch up before she kept walking. Cullen Briggs was a tall Ravenclaw boy Mari had met their first day at Hogwarts. She remembered almost instantly having a crush on him. He was all tall, dark and handsome, or as tall, dark and handsome as an 11-year-old could be to another 11-year-old, and he’d actually taken interest in her; Little, shy and timid Marinette Adler. In shorter terms, he’d taken her breath away.

Of course, she’d stopped crushing on him 2nd year and only thought of him as a friend but they had dated shortly in 4th year and she did think he’d grown into his looks. He was tall and muscular, with messy brown hair and eyes and he’d learned what colors suited his olive complexion best. If you added all that to his Ravenclaw smarts, quidditch prowess, and charisma you got a boy that girls swooned over. Mari just wasn’t one of them.

“It’s about Lorelei.” He said.

“She’s great, reminds me of me when I was her age,” Mari said.

“I thought she was either gonna be a Ravenclaw like me or a Hufflepuff like our dad but I really didn’t think…” He trailed off.

“She’d end up in Gryffindor.” She finished.

“Yeah.” He thought for a moment. “Could you just watch out for her, make sure she’s getting along alright.”

“Consider it done.” She said simply.

“Thank you.” He sighed in relief.

“What’d you think I was gonna say no?”

“No, I’m just worried about her. That’s all.” He shook his head.

“Relax, if anyone gives her shit they’ll have to deal with me and Ginny’s Bat-Bogey Hex,” Mari said.

He chuckled. “No one’s gonna give her shit then.”

“You can bet your sweet ass on that.” She said, turning as they reached where they had to split up and gave him a two-finger-salute. “Later, Briggs.”

“Later.” He gave her a small wave.

Once she got back to Gryffindor tower she spent the rest of the night catching up with her other friends and greeting the new 1st years. It was late when she finally got to bed, but she didn’t fall asleep. She hadn’t been able to simply fall asleep in ages, not since she’d realized Voldemort had returned and was an ever-present threat looming over everyone's heads.

During the day Mari made herself confident in the Order, Harry, and Dumbledore but by nightfall when everything was quiet Mari’s worry ate her alive. Most nights she laid awake worrying until her body shut down and she found solace in dreams of before the Dark Lord had returned. Other nights her dreams weren’t so comforting, they were a manifestation of her fear and grief and she woke up in a cold sweat. Luckily for her that night she danced at the Yule Ball again instead of watching everyone she loved die.

When she woke the next morning she pushed her worry to the back of her mind where it could grow and fester until she laid back down that night and got dressed for the day. She had breakfast with her friends, helped a few 1st years to their classrooms, and made it just on time to her first class of the day, Potions.

“Ah, Ms. Adler.” Slughorn greeted her. “How is your father?”

“He’d be great if he wasn’t swamped at the Ministry.” Mari shook her head as she sat her stuff down by Hermione. “Death Eaters really have zero regards for Muggle Relations.” 

Slughorn didn’t seem to notice her sarcasm. “No,” He said in a small voice. “I suppose they don’t. But do send him my regards, he was an excellent student.”

“Will do sir.” She nodded. Slughorn turned as Mari saw Draco roll his eyes in her peripheral vision. “Hear something you don’t like, Malfoy? Was it that my father still works at the Ministry? Or the mention of all your friends?”

He glared. “Wouldn’t you like to know, halfbreed.”

“Halfbreed? At least my family didn’t resort to inbreeding to stay pureblooded.” She said.

“Mari!” Hermione scolded.

“What are your parents, 2nd cousins?” She kept going. “Why don’t you ask your dad. Oh, wait-”

“Mari!” 

It was then Slughorn began teaching. Mari gave Draco a disgusted once over before she turned back to the front of the class. She could still feel his glare on her when Hermione leaned over to scold her further.

“You could’ve gotten into trouble with Slughorn.” 

“Please, Slughorn wasn’t paying attention.” She shook her head.

“But he could’ve been” Hermione shook her head.

“But he wasn’t.”

Hermione opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Ron and Harry busting through the door. Slughorn turned around to the boys, conversed with them for a minute before telling them to grab a book and turned back to the class. Hermione then gave an impressive show of her talents by listing off every potion Slughorn had in front of the class. Mari tossed Draco a glare as he rolled his eyes at Hermione but looked back to the front before she could catch his reaction.

Hermione finished explaining the Amortentia, Slughorn awarded her 20 house points and took over, a sharp contrast to Snape’s reaction when Hermione knew just about everything, Mari noted. Slughorn then dealt them a challenge that whoever could brew the best potion would win a vial of Felix Felicis and sent them on their way.

Mari was surprised to find Draco did not restart the fight Slughorn had cut off at the start of class. He kept to himself, not even mocking Neville as he struggled through his potion. Probably because she’d put him in his place and now he had his tail between his legs, she decided as she left her spot to help Neville.

“You’re staring, Mari,” Neville said.

“Sorry, sorry.” She shook her head. “Just thinking about hexing him.”

“Didn’t you hex him last year?” He asked.

“Yeah, but I want to do it again,” Mari said as she showed Neville the proper way to cut his leeches, glad they were already dead because Mari hated leeches. “Last year I hexed him out of necessity. I want to hex him simply because I want to.”

He nodded slowly as she dropped the cut-up leeches into his hand. 

“Put them in one at a time, stirring between each, if you need any more help let me know.” She stated.

“Thanks.” He said.

“No problem.” She said as she went back to her spot and continued her own potion. She glanced up at Draco and found him looking away, she sent a glare his way she knew he caught in his peripheral and turned back to her potion. “Wow, Harry you’re on fire.” She commented.

“I hope you don’t mean like Seamus.” Harry gestured to him. He was actually on fire.

“How does he manage to do that every year?” Mari asked.

“I think it’s more than once a year,” Harry said.

“It’s more like every week,” Ron said.

“We should make a scale,” Mari said. The boys looked at her confused. “How often does something happen, Seamus starting a fire to Voldemort trying to kill Harry.”

Ron looked surprised but Harry laughed. “Weekly to yearly, I get it.”

“I’m really surprised he hasn’t tried this trick yet.” Mari reached over and plucked Harry’s glasses. “You can’t fight if you can’t see.”

“Don’t go giving him ideas,” Harry laughed. “That’s the trick I used on the Basilisk.”

“Shit sorry, I forgot he’s got,” She looked back at Draco and lowered her voice. “Spies in Hogwarts.”

Draco couldn’t hear what she’d said but glared at them, anyways.

“Careful, he’ll tell the Death Eaters on you,” Ron said.

“What are they gonna do? Kill me?” She asked, handing Harry his glasses back. “Bold of them to assume they can.”

“Are you implying you can’t be killed?” Hermione looked up from her potion.

“I’m saying I’m immortal. Kill me, I just wake up on the other side of the planet as a newborn baby. Like a Phoenix, I am.” Mari stated, her voice serious even though she was joking. “This is only my thousandth time going to Hogwarts.”

“You must know all the answers to the O.W.L.s.” Harry played along.

Mari slapped her knee and sighed. “I always forget to write 'em down.”

“They change the questions every year.” Hermione shook her head, despite the smile on her lips. 

“That’s why.” She pointed to Hermione, before looking back down to her potion. Surprisingly at the end of class, it was Harry who won the Liquid Luck. The rest of her classes went without a hitch, even though Draco was in a large percentage of them. Strangely enough, he’d left her alone, not saying a word, but she had caught him staring at her a few times.

“God, I hate DADA with Snape,” Ginny complained in the common room after dinner. She was sprawled out on a couch by the fire while Mari sat in a nearby armchair with a muggle book in hand and a blanket over her legs.

“I know.” Mari nodded, not looking up from her book. “I have him just after lunch.” She settled further into the armchair, she’d always loved how big they were, engulfing her entire body in comfort. Having friends from each house and being a bit of a rule-breaker, Mari had been inside every common room but she still thought Gryffindors was coziest, though she would’ve assumed Hufflepuffs would've been.

“He really sucks all the fun out of it.” Ginny sat up.

“I still wish he hadn’t gotten Lupin fired,” Mari said, looking up as she turned her page. “I mean who cares if he’s a werewolf, he was the best damn Defense Against the Dark Arts professor we’ve had.”

“Yeah.” Ginny nodded. She stood up and crossed the room to the window. “I think it’s going to rain.”

Mari craned her head to see out the window. “I suppose it does look a bit gloomy out.”

Ginny sighed, hovering by the window. “How bad was Malfoy today?”

“Strangely,” She paused to shut her book on her finger. “Not bad at all. We had a little scuffle in Potions but otherwise, nothing.”

“Huh,” Ginny sat back down. “Weird. What are you reading?”

“C’mon, it’s R.L. Stine.” She held the book up. “Don’t you know R.L. Stine?”

Ginny shrugged.

“You wizards really are uncultured,” Mari remarked, reopening her book.

Ginny ignored the remark. “You know you’re the last person I’d expect to curl up by the fire with a book.”

“And yet, I do it almost every night.” She said simply.

“Exactly my point.”

“And what else would I do?”

“I don’t know.” Ginny shrugged. 

It was then Dean entered the common room with Seamus following shortly behind him. He smiled at Ginny and sat down beside her. “Hey.”

“Hi.” She said as Seamus took a seat in the chair opposite Mari. She held in a sigh, it wasn’t that she didn’t like Dean. Dean was great, Mari simply didn’t like Ginny and Dean together. Plus, she’d have to be blind to miss the way Seamus looked at Dean. But she held her tongue, knowing it wasn’t her business. 

“You should’ve heard what Mari said to Draco in potions,” Seamus said sometime later. “You destroyed him, didn’t you Mari.”

“Oh, uh yeah. I suppose.” She looked up from her book.

“You suppose? You only asked him if his parents were second cousins.” Seamus said.

“Cousins?” Ginny gasped before laughing loudly.

“Gotta keep that blood pure.” Mari shrugged simply. “Why do you think he’s albino?”

“I don’t think Draco’s albino.” Dean laughed.

“He isn’t?” She said. “Damn, I thought he was.” 

“For 6 years?” Ginny asked.

“He’s pale.” She shrugged.

“But didn’t you start that rumor in 4th year that you saw him bleaching his hair in moaning Myrtle’s bathroom?” Seamus asked.

“Shhh.” She shook her head. “Damn, what time is it?”

“About 9:30,” Dean said.

“Fuck,” She yawned. “I think I’m gonna hit the hay.”

She stood up and stretched, throwing the blanket over the back of the armchair. She said good night to her friends and slipped away upstairs. Once she’d changed into her pajamas she got into bed. Despite being tired she still couldn’t sleep. She just laid there with her eyes closed trying not to think about the war and Voldemort or what would happen if they lost.

Slowly, the other girls filtered into the room and went to sleep one by one but it wasn’t until long after the last girl went to bed Mari finally drifted off. She was lucky again to find solace in her dreams. That night she dreamt she was at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes with her friends, looking at all the prank candy and fireworks. She woke the next morning disappointed, realizing it had been a dream. But nonetheless, she got up and got ready before restarting her daily cycle...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wassup y'all, if you're coming from Dracotok, same. Tbh, I wasn't really that big of a Draco-girl until I got onto Dracotok and now I'm obsessed. I hope you enjoy my story, but fair warning if you're looking for immediate smut you've come to the wrong fanfiction. That'll be several chapters ahead, mainly so I can figure out how to write non-gay/lesbian smut because for some reason hetero smut is hard for me to write. But also because it would just be weird if they went straight to fucking.  
> So yeah, um enjoy.  
> Peace out hoes✌️


	2. Chapter 2

It only took Mari a few days to decide something was wrong with Draco. By the end of the first week, so many chances to be his usual asshole self passed him by. He was by no means nice, he still snapped at anyone who got in his way but he wasn’t going out of his way to be mean like he used to.

“Something’s wrong with Malfoy.” She said sitting down for breakfast Saturday morning.

“You think so?” Harry asked, glancing at Ron and Hermione but Mari was too busy stabbing pancakes with her fork to notice.

“I do, I mean he only made fun of Neville twice this week.” She gestured to Neville who was sitting further down the table with Dean and Seamus.

“I suppose that is unusual,” Hermione said.

“It is.” Mari nodded. “I get his dad is in like, wizard prison, but I thought that would make him worse.”

“Maybe he just finally realized he’s not all that.” Ron offered with a shrug, eating his 4th piece of toast. “I mean we all figured that out ages ago.”

She shook her head. “Hmm, I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry,” Harry said. “If Malfoy is up to something we’ll figure it out.”

Mari glanced back to the Slytherin table, where Draco sat alone, quietly eating. “Alright. Ready for Quidditch tryouts, Run?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” He said.

“I think you’ll do great, right Hermione?” 

Hermione cleared her throat. “Yeah, um, you will.”

Mari chuckled. “See, Ron, you’ll do great. You’ll make the team as easy as I did.”

Mari had joined the Gryffindor team the year before as a Chaser alongside Ginny. She had to re-tryout like everyone else but was sure she’d get her spot back. After breakfast, Mari found Luna and Neville and they ventured around the Hogwarts grounds. It was a nice day out, the sun was shining and there was a slight breeze blowing their hair around lightly. Like the wind was playing with them.

“Wanna bet Ginny and Dean are snogging right now?” Mari said, taking a seat on the exposed root of a large tree by the lake.

“They’ve been doing that a lot, haven’t they?” Neville frowned as he sat down in the grass so he could roll up the bottom of his jeans.

“I think it’s sweet,” Luna said, sitting cross-legged on the grass in front of Mari.

“Sweet isn’t exactly the word I’d use.” Mari looked up the trunk of the tree. “You reckon I could climb this?”

Luna and Neville turned to the tree.

“Probably.” Luna nodded. “Why don’t you think it’s sweet?”

Mari stood up on the root, wiped her hands on her pant legs, and grabbed the closest. “I think it’s feverish.” She said as she easily pulled herself up onto the tree branch. 

“Feverish?” Neville asked, wading into the edge of the lake.

“Yeah.” She said, climbing to the next branch. “Ya know, over-energetic. They’ve snogged like 5 times a day since we got back.”

“Didn’t you and Cullen have a go like that?” Luna asked, looking up as Mari kept climbing.

“We hooked up in a dark broom closet, once or twice. That’s all.” She shook her head.

“That’s all?” Neville said, reaching down into the water as he looked for a rock to skip.

“That’s all,” Mari repeated, now high in the tree she edged down the branch she was standing on, holding an above branch for support.

“What year was that?” Luna asked.

“4th.” She answered simply.

“You were 14?” Neville looked back, surprised.

“15.” Mari shook her head as she bounced on the edge of the branch. “Why?”

“That’s just…” He trailed off. “Really young.”

She shrugged. “It’s perfectly normal for teens to experiment.”

“You’re gonna get hurt,” Neville said, changing the subject.

She grinned, bouncing more. The tree branch shook beneath her. 

“You know, I fell out of a tree once,” Luna said. “I was seven.”

“Oh really?” Mari asked, walking back to the trunk. “D’you get hurt?”

“I broke my arm.” Luna nodded. “Luckily my mom patched it up for me.”

“Your mom sounds like she was great,” Mari said. “I wish I could’ve met her.”

“She was,” Luna said. “I think she would’ve really liked you. You remind me of her a bit.”

“Luna, darling.” Mari hung upside down from a tree branch. “That might be the biggest compliment you could’ve given me.”

Luna smiled up at her, before turning to Neville. “She would’ve liked you too.”

“Really?” Neville peered at her.

She nodded. “I imagine she’d like how devoted you are to herbology.”

Mari grinned down at her friends, wondering when they’d realize they were perfect for each other. She pulled herself further up the tree, letting Luna and Neville’s conversation fall to background noise as she headed for the top of the tree. When she eventually climbed back down Luna had gotten into the shallow water with Neville and he was showing her how to skip rocks.

“I have Charms homework.” She said. “You two good on your own?”

“Yeah.” Neville nodded.

“I'll catch you later then,” Mari said, turning around and jogging back up to the castle. She grinned to herself as she left them alone. She ventured up into the school, not sure if she wanted to do the Charms homework she actually had just yet. She thought about tracking down Ginny when she spotted Draco’s platinum hair don’t the corridor.

Time to put myself in his way, she thought.

“Malfoy!” She called down the hallway, getting his attention. “Is it true you're already falling behind in class?”

“Is it true you never learned how to mind your own business, Adler?” He rebutted.

“I’m just saying it’s quite a fall from grace.” She held her hands up defensively. “But I guess you’ve gotten used to those.”

“So what if I have?” He snapped.

“Just an observation, a study into your family, if you will.” She said firmly.

“You don’t know a thing about my family.” He towered over her threateningly.

“I was there when your father was arrested.” She held her ground. “Or did you forget he was bested by a group of 14 and 15-year-olds? That must be quite embarrassing for your family, especially among your father’s friends.” Mari of course knew all the heavy lifting had been done by the Order members, but she’d say just about anything to get under Malfoy’s skin.

“And what do you think you know about my father's friends?” He spat.

“I know they all get matching tattoos.” She shrugged innocently. “Like drunk college girls. My question is, d’you get one to match your daddy?”

“You better think very carefully about what you’re insinuating there, Adler.” He glared.

“Or else?” She offered. “What’re you gonna do Malfoy, turn me over to your aunt?”

He sneered, seemingly thinking over his next words. She looked him up and down, physically he was a lot larger than her but he’d never laid a hand on a girl before and she knew she could easily beat him in a duel. “You think you’re funny don’t you?”

“There’s nothing to laugh at.” She shook her head.

“Is that so?” He asked.

“Of course. Your deranged and murderous aunt isn’t someone to be laughed at.” Mari said.

“Exactly.” He said. He then leaned down closer and lowered his voice. “And we wouldn’t want to go putting a target on our backs now would we?”

“Is that a threat or a promise?” She fired back boldly.

“I don’t think you want to wait and find out, Marinette.” 

“Oh?” She said mockingly. “Using my full name? You’re serious aren’t you.”

“If I were you, I’d heed my warning, Adler.” He shoved past her. 

“Good thing you’re not then.” She remarked lowly as she watched him walk away. Once he’d turned the corner she sighed and turned on her heels, walking in the opposite direction. Eventually, she found herself in the owlery where her barn owl, Atlas, was waiting for her with a letter from her parents.

She grabbed the letter. “Thanks, Attie.” She patted him on the head and watched him fly out the window before opening the letter. She leaned against the edge of the window and began reading.

_Mari,  
How’s your first week back at Hogwarts been? My week has been rather uneventful as I’ve barely seen your father all week. All the overtime the Ministry has him working, plus some OotP work that he says is top secret. Those damn Death Eaters. I know he intends to write you later, so keep your eyes peeled for his letter. _

_I trust you’re staying on top of your schoolwork. How are your classes this year? Your father mentioned Dumbledore had hired a new Potions professor, Slughorn. You know your father had him when he was attending Hogwarts. I’ve met the man on occasion, he seems nice. He takes pride in the many impressive witches and wizards he’s taught. I hope one day you’ll be one. You can only achieve that if you do the work. But how hard can wizarding work be really?_

_Even with the 22 years, I’ve been married to your father and 25 years I’ve known about the wizarding world, I’m still enchanted by it every day. I know I would’ve much rather done Charms and Transfiguration than Calculus and Physics._

_But I also hope you indulge in some fun this year. With the way things are going this could be your last year to do so. I don’t want you to worry the way I know you do. You are safe within the walls of Hogwarts, you can always trust that. So have fun like teenagers are supposed to. As much as I despise the idea I know one day soon you’ll be forced to grow up more than you already have and fight in this war the way your father does._

_If I could I’d take you both and run to where the darkness could never touch you but I know I can’t. Neither of you would ever allow it. He devoted himself to this war long ago and I know there’s nothing I can do to stop you from fighting. It’s who you are. But while you don’t have to fight, while you’re safe just be a teenager._

_I was harsh before you left. You know I adore your friends, I was just upset that you already have a foot in the war and I wanted to blame someone. I realized the only person to blame is Voldemort himself. So by all means have fun with your friends. Even though I sure you didn’t listen to me and are probably with them as I’m writing this.  
To conclude, do your work, half fun in your spare time, look for your father’s letter and tell your friends I said hello. I love you my little lion.  
Love,  
Mom  
P.S. If the chance arises, fall in love. I’d  
hate to think you’d never have a teen romance._

Mari read the letter in her mother’s voice; Soft but assured with her American accent. She hardly ever raised her voice, yelling at Mari the year before had been the exception, not the rule. She was just fiercely protective of her and mad Mari had put herself in harm’s way. Mari knew her mother loved the magical world, but she also knew how unforgiving it could be. That is how she’d met Mari’s father after all.

25 years before Lauren Adler had been Lauren Williams strolling the streets of New York City with her brother, Aaron when an American wizard inspired by Voldemort’s work in Britain began blasting and firing killing curses at random in the middle of the street. When a piece of a building fell into the crowd Aaron pushed his sister out of the way and she watched him be crushed.

The wizard was caught quickly and sent to prison but the fallout had been so large the American Ministry requested help and Atticus Adler and several others were sent over to pass it off as a tragic accident. It had been a mere stroke of luck that he was the one sent to Oblivate Lauren. She had been crying and he comforted her, doing small magic tricks for her.

When the time came he couldn’t bring himself to wipe her memory, so he told her not to tell anyone. He stuck around for a while, working in America. 3 years later they were married and the rest is history.

Mari looked up as she heard someone enter the Owlery. It was a 5th year Slytherin, Lucille Torrent. “Oh, hey Lucy.”

“Mari, hi.” She said. “Letter from your parents?”

Mari raised the letter. “Just my mother actually. The Ministry has got my dad swamped.”

Lucy nodded solemnly. “I’m here to send my parents a response. They’re a bit angry with me. My new boyfriend’s a muggleborn Hufflepuff.”

Mari chuckled. “Well, that’s one way to piss off pureblood Slytherin parents. Who is he?”

“Ben Warner.” She said. Ben was in Mari’s year, she’d stood up for him when Draco called him a mudblood on multiple occasions. He was a very kind and shy guy.

“Nice. Ben’s a catch. Good for you.” Mari said.

“You really think?” Lucy asked. “I think he’s great but some people in my house don’t like it. Especially in your year.”

“I swear if Malfoy’s giving you a hard time I’ll punch him in the mouth.” She shook her head.

“No actually, I don’t think I’ve heard Draco say much more than a few words since the beginning of the year.” Lucy crossed the room to her small owl.

“Strange.” Mari narrowed her eyes.

“Yeah.” She nodded securing her letter. “It’s not even just the Slytherins. I don’t think anyone here wants to see a Slytherin and Hufflepuff together.”

“Oh fuck em.” Mari shook her head as she folded her mother’s letter back up and tucked it into the envelope before slipping it in her back pocket.

Lucy laughed, as her owl flew out the window. “Fuck em.”

“Yeah,” Mari said as they left the owlery together. “So spill, how’d you two get together?”

“Well we were pen pals over the summer and he asked me out right away when we got back,” Lucy explained.

“Ugh. Pen pals, how romantic?” She grinned. “Did you spray your letters with your perfume and read his under the pale moonlight streaming in from your window at night and hug them to your chest once you were done reading?” She clutched her arms to her chest for dramatic effect.

“You’re cheesy.” Lucy laughed. “But yeah, something like that.”

“Adorable,” Mari stated. “Where is the man in question?”

“Ben?” She said. “He’s studying in the library.”

“Tell me what you love about him?” She said dramatically.

Lucy rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You’re so dramatic.”

“I wouldn’t want to be anything else.” Mari shrugged as they reached the bottom of the Owlery tower. She looked up into the sky where Atlas was flying overhead. 

“Is that your owl?” Lucy’s eyes tracked him through the sky.

Mari nodded. “Beautiful isn’t he?”

“I would expect nothing less of your owl than to soar through the air like he owns it.” She said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked.

“Nothing, nothing.” Lucy shook her head.

Mari looked her up and down suspiciously. “Hm, I’ll let you off with a warning for that one.”

She laughed. “Alright.”

The two walked together to the library and found Ben. Mari found it a bit funny, the two both looked exactly like how you’d expect them to look considering their houses. Lucy was tall and built slim with long black hair, piercing dark eyes, and deep brown skin. Ben was also tall but stocky. He had friendly forest green eyes, a head of light brown curls, and tan skin. She stood firm with good posture while Ben slouched to seem less intimidating. She looked elegant and graceful while he looked friendly and approachable. The two of them fit together nicely, or at least Mari thought so.

Ironically enough, Mari never really thought she looked like a Gryffindor. She didn’t quite fit the vibe, even if her personality was about as Gryffindor as it got. Her skin was fair with rosy cheeks and freckles that dotted her face. She had wavy brown hair to her mid-back and big blue eyes she thought were a bit too bright. 

She didn’t know exactly what it was that gave each house their specific vibe or why Ben and Lucy fit their houses vibe so perfectly, she just knew she didn’t fit hers. That was something that had bugged her a lot when she was little but she had since grown unbothered by, like Draco calling her a halfbreed.

She watched with a small smile as Ben’s face lit up when he saw Lucy. He beckoned her over but she paused turning to Mari.

“Oh go on, I have work for Charms anyway.” Mari waved her off.

“I’ll see you later, Mari.” Lucy was unable to wipe the happy smile off her face before running off to be with Ben.

She shook her head lightly and turned away, heading off in search of a book she needed for her Charms homework. It didn’t take her long to find the book she was looking for.

“Damn it!” A voice hissed from the other side of a bookshelf she was passing. She’d know that voice anywhere, Malfoy. “None of these books have anything.”

What was on the other side of where she was standing? 

“Fuck. This is useless.” He complained.

The restricted section, Mari realized. What’s Malfoy doing in the restricted section?

“Just keep looking, Draco.” Another voice said. It was Goyle. “I’m sure we’ll find something.”

“There’s nothing here.” There was a thud like a book had hit the ground like Malfoy had knocked a book to the ground. He took a deep breath. “Just go, I’ll finish here.”

“I don-”

“I said go!” Draco snapped.

Shit, Mari thought. If Goyle saw her, standing on the other side of the shelf listening in, he’d tell Malfoy and she’d be done for. Quickly, she scrambled back around the next row, hiding behind the end of the shelf. She peered out, watching Goyle walk out of the restricted section and leave before returning to where she’d been standing.

She just heard Malfoy grumbling as he put away the books they’d been reading. She decided to get out of there before he came out and saw her. She had to find Harry, he’d want to hear what she’d heard, even if it wasn’t much. She set off for the common room.

“Where’s Potter?” She asked, finding Hermione and Ron alone in the common room. They were sitting by the fire, Hermione on the couch, Ron in one of the armchairs.

“With Dumbledore,” Hermione said. “Why?”

“I was in the library and I overheard Malfoy and Goyle talking. They were in the restricted section looking for something.” She said, taking a seat on the couch next to Hermione.

“The restricted section?” Ron asked. “What would they be looking for in there?”

Mari shook her head. “I don’t know, but whatever it was, they couldn’t find it and Malfoy seemed really upset about it.”

Ron and Hermione exchanged looks and Mari sighed. “You two know something, don’t you?”

They stayed quiet.

“C’mon, you guys know you can trust me. I’ve always been on your side.” She prompted. 

Hermione quickly looked around, making sure no one was paying attention before glancing at Ron then back to Mari. They all leaned in so they could talk quietly and still hear each other.

“Just before school started when we were at Diagon Alley, we saw Draco and his mom go into Borgin and Burke’s.” She said quietly. “We think he flashed a Dark Mark.”

“A Dark Mark?” Mari asked loudly and they shushed her. A few heads turned to them but Mari waited until they looked away to continue in a quieter voice. “Are you sure? I mean Draco is definitely an ass but is he- a Death Eater?”

Hermione shook her head. “We can’t be sure.”

“Harry sure thinks so,” Ron said.

Mari thought about that for a moment. “Well, what were they there for, Malfoy and his mom?”

“A vanishing cabinet,” Hermione said.

“A vanishing cabinet?”

“It’s not a lot to go on.” Ron frowned.

“You’re certainly right about that,” Mari said with a sigh as she fell back into the couch. She relaxed into the comfortable embrace of the cushions. “What would Malfoy want with a vanishing cabinet?”

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Hermione said.

Mari groaned, covering her face with her hands. “I have Charms homework, I should be worried about that.”

Hermione frowned. “Go do your homework. We’ll tell Harry what you heard and we’ll update you when we know something.”

“I don’t know.” She trailed off.

“It’s alright, we can deal with this.” Ron encouraged. “Don’t worry.”

Mari let out a deep breath. “Okay.”

She followed Hermione’s instructions and slipped away to do her work. At dinner, she sat with Ginny, Dean, Seamus, and Neville. There was no mention of Death Eaters or Vanishing Cabinets. That night she laid awake, wondering if it could be true. If Draco Malfoy had joined the ranks of the Death Eaters. If the jokes she’d made about the matching tattoos or Draco turning her over to his aunt weren’t really jokes at all. 

In the days following Mari waited for their update, it didn’t come. She didn’t want to bring it up with the Trio, so she waited. She got the letter from her father her mother had told her to watch for, she wrote back to her parents and had a few pop quizzes but still got no update. Toward the end of the week, Hannah Abbott was called out of Herbology. Mari later found out her mother had been murdered.

The next morning was Quidditch tryouts. Mari thought about how cruel the juxtaposition of it was. There Mari was, high in the air on a broom trying out for a game while Hannah Abbott was grieving the loss of her mother. But she couldn’t spend all of tryouts simply hovering in the air thinking. She had a spot to earn back.

She sailed over to Ginny and Harry after scoring on both McLaggen and Ron with a grin on her face. “What’re you thinking, Ron or McLaggen?” 

“I’m thinking that’s classified,” Harry said.

“Can’t you make an exception?” She lazily swirled around them. “For a friend.”

“Who said we were friends?” He joked.

Mari scoffed and turned to Ginny. “Can you believe him? 6 years I’ve been his friend and this is how he treats me.”

“I can’t.” Ginny shook her head. “He’s so rude.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “He’s right here, and he’s supposed to be deciding on a Keeper.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Mari took both hands off her broom to hold them up defensively and finally came to a halt at Ginny’s side. 

By the end of tryouts, it was Ron who’d scored the position of Keeper after McLaggen completely missed the 5th and final goal, flying off in the wrong direction. Though Mari had a sneaking suspicion, Hermione had something to do with it. Mari had gained back her spot on the team easily enough, joining Ginny and Katie Bell as Chasers. She spent the rest of the day on a Quidditch high until she eventually crashed around nightfall.

While she figured it would happen, the crash was a crushing mass on her chest as she laid awake at midnight. She tried to distract herself with thoughts of upcoming Quidditch practice, which she imagined would be fun with Harry as captain, but it didn’t work.

Somehow, her body left the bed and her feet found the floor. She pulled on her shoes before slipping down into the common room. She’d snuck out before, for secret parties or midnight snacks, the best time being when she’d gone with Harry. His invisibility cloak and map made sneaking out a piece of cake but she also liked the thrill of narrowly dodging Filch.

Most nights he and Mrs. Norris were the only ones out patrolling the halls, with the exception of the ghosts and the paintings. But they had better things to do than snitch on students out of bed. That night every hall she went down was empty. She was near the library when she realized she was just wandering. 

“Shit.” She mumbled, glancing at the library door. 

She looked up and a ghost was floating toward her lazily. It was Agnes Leopold, a Ravenclaw student who’d died a good 150 years before from an illness Mari couldn’t remember the name of. Agnes was nice, she told tales of Hogwarts when she’d attended it, her many friends, and all the funny little adventures they’d have. 

“G’evening, Agnes.” Mari nodded.

“I just thought you oughta know, Mrs. Norris is a few halls down,” Agnes said, gesturing behind herself with her chin.

“Shit, really?” 

She nodded. “I’d say you’ve got about a minute before she’s here.”

“Thanks,” Mari said, ducking into the library.

“You’re welcome.” Agnes shrugged, following her into the library. “You know, they built the restricted section during my 3rd year.”

“Wow, what year was that?” Mari asked, pulling out her wand. “Lumos.”

“1838.” She said, matter-of-factly, but then her face fell. “I died the next year.”

Mari frowned, glancing over at the ghost by her side. Then her eyes widened with realization. “The restricted section.”

“Yes, it was built in 1838,” Agnes said, seeming confused.

“Oh, sorry.” Mari shook her head. “What did you die of again?”

Agnes followed behind her as she rushed to the restricted section. “Manticore Pox, rather nasty illness. There was an outbreak, but I was the only casualty.”

“Like Chicken Pox?” She asked but Agnes only gave her a confused look so she shook her head. “Nevermind.”

“Why are we going into the restricted section again?” Agnes asked as Mari stepped over the rope.

“Last weekend I overheard Malfoy looking for something in here,” Mari said simply.

“Ah. Which one’s Malfoy again?”

“Slytherin, white hair, a bit of an ass.” Mari listed. “About yay high.” She gestured about a foot above her head with her empty hand.

“Oh, him.”

“Yeah.” She said as she found the spot opposite where she’d been standing the other day.

“And remind me why you care what Malfoy’s looking at?” 

“He might be a Death Eater.” Mari pulled a book out of the shelf. “But that's supposed to be a secret so let’s keep it that way.”

Agnes sighed. “Ah, secrets. I miss when my friends used to tell me secrets.”

“Well, now I’m telling you secrets and we’re friends aren’t we?” Mari asked, scanning the chapter titles of the book she’d grabbed.

“Really?’ She sounded excited.

“Yeah.” Mari put the book away. Agnes squealed.

“Oh, I haven’t had a friend in so long!”

Mari smiled. “Okay, but let’s quiet down so I don’t get caught.”

“Oh, oh, right.” Agnes nodded.

“Say, Agnes.” She pulled another book down but immediately put it back when she read the title. “Could you keep watch for me?”

Agnes nodded seriously before floating away. 

“God, what were you looking for Malfoy?” Mari groaned, pulling out a 3rd book. To no avail as Mari doubted Draco was looking for a dark wizard cookbook. She then pulled out a 4th and a 5th, all with no results. She’d gone through 10 books when Agnes came back.

“Mrs. Norris is in the library.” She stated.

“Shit, where?” Mari hissed nearly dropping the book in her hand. She quickly sat it down and grabbed her still alight wand. “Nox.”

“She just came in.”

“Fuck, can you lead her away while I get back to Gryffindor common room?” She asked.

“Of course.” Agnes nodded. She turned sharply and Mari went the other way, leaving Cursing Mundane Objects: A Guide behind her on the table as she made her exit. Once she was out of the library, Mari bolted not wanting to risk Mrs. Norris not falling for however it was Agnes was distracting her. 

She was nearly back to the common room when the sound of footsteps came from the next hallway, she ducked behind a statue just before Filch came down the hallway. “Shit.”

“Where are you?” Filch’s voice was low and grumbling.

She pulled out her wand, pointing it to a door at the end of the hall. “Aberto.”

The door came open and Filch flew off into the room. Once he was out of sight Mari fled down the hallway. She didn’t stop running until she reached the Fat Lady.

“You’re out late.” She commented.

“Yeah, yeah. Bumbershoot.” Mari said in a rushed voice. The Fat Lady’s eyebrows shot up but the door came open and Mari quickly scrambled inside. Letting a sigh of relief escape her as she fell back into one of the armchairs. “Fuck, that was close.”

She sat there for a minute, letting her breathing even out. Then she groaned, clapping her hands over her face. All that for nothing. She knew nothing more than she did before and she’d nearly gotten caught by Filch. “What was the point?” She groaned quietly as her mind traced over everything bad that would’ve happened had she been caught. 

“You’re back.” A voice broke her from her thoughts. 

She jumped. “Jesus Christ, Hermione. I need to put a bell on you.” 

“Sorry,” Hermione shook her head leaving the doorway to sit on the couch near Mari. “I heard you leave.”

“Really?” She said sarcastically. 

Hermione ignored the comment. “Where’d you go?”

“The library.” Mari examined her cuticles. “Was trying to figure out what Draco was looking for the other day.”

“Oh,” Hermione said.

“I didn’t find anything though,” She said bitterly, looking from her nails to the dull remnants of the fire that had been blazing earlier that evening. Hermione was quiet but Mari could feel her eyes on the side of her face. “What?” She turned to her.

“I’ve just noticed you’ve been tossing and turning every night since we got here.” She said.

“You watching me sleep, Granger?” Mari asked with a grin.

Hermione gave her a look. “I stay up reading.”

“Reading in the dark hurts your eyes, you know.” She said.

“I know, I enchanted a pair of reading glasses so I can read without a light.” 

“Very clever, Hermione.” Mari nodded. “Very clever.”

She smiled for a moment before becoming serious again. “But, seriously, are you okay?”

“I get bad dreams sometimes, it’s nothing really.” Mari shrugged, a half-truth was better than a complete lie.

“You sure?” Hermione asked.

Mari smiled and shook her head. “Totally.”

If Hermione saw through her, she didn’t say anything about it. She stood up, hovering for a moment. “You coming back to bed?”

“I think I’m gonna stay by the fire.” She said. “For a bit.”

Hermione nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Good night,” Mari said as Hermione disappeared back up the stairs. She sighed and relaxed back into the armchair, her mind racing once again. She sat there until she eventually dozed off and her mind became at ease with dreams of the Quidditch World Cup the Summer before 4th year...


	3. Chapter 3

Outside the warm hub of the 3 Broomsticks, it was snowing hard. Like someone had laid a giant white sheet over Hogsmeade. Inside, Mari stared down into her butterbeer and rubbed her shoulders, which were sore from Quidditch practice. 

Across from her in the booth, Neville was sitting quietly chomping down on a large sucker from Honeydukes. At her side, Luna was reading The Quibbler. She had been sitting with Ginny but left when she and Dean started snogging.

The door opened and Mari looked up.

“Whew, it’s a cold one,” Cullen announced to no one in particular, rubbing his bare hands together. He turned, making his way to Mari’s booth, greeting everyone he passed. “One butterbeer, please.” He told Madam Rosemerta.

She nodded as Cullen pulled a spare chair from a nearby table and flipped it around backwards to sit at the edge of the booth.

“What took you so long?” Mari asked.

“Had to help Lorelei with some school work.” He said.

“Aw, I wish I had a Ravenclaw helper,” Mari said, lifting her butterbeer to her lips.

“I could help you too,” He said. “Not that you need it, you already get good grades.”

“Hm,” She hummed tilting her head side to side as she swallowed. “Just because I don’t need it doesn’t mean I don’t want it.”

“I could use some help, potions is eating me alive.” Neville piped up.

“We could make a little study group, like the DA but boring,” Mari said.

“You calling me boring, Adler?” Cullen arched a brow at her.

“I would never.” She shook her head then turned back to Neville. “If you’re really struggling you could ask Potter, he’s been amazing in potions lately.”

Neville nodded, considering it. 

“He looks like he’s up to no good.” Mari’s eyes trained in on Malfoy over the brim of her mug. He’d been sitting quietly in the corner sipping on a butterbeer for half an hour but something seemed to have prompted him to stand up and cross the pub.

“I suppose he does,” Cullen said, looking over his shoulder.

“He’s just going to the bathroom.” Neville shrugged.

“I nearly died in a bathroom, Neville.” She said. “Nefarious business, bathrooms are.”

They furrowed their brows in confusion at her.

“Ever think you’re looking for something suspicious that’s not there?” Luna asked, looking up from her Quibbler.

Mari didn’t miss a beat. “All the time. It makes the day more interesting.”

“We go to a magical school,” Cullen said.

“I get bored easy.” She shrugged before changing the subject. “Madam Rosmerta is certainly taking a while with your butterbeer.”

“It’s pretty crowded today.” He said.

“No, I know.” She kept her eyes trained on the bathroom door. She kept staring at the door while her friends talked until Draco came out with a weird look on his face. He scanned the room and for a second his eyes caught hers before he jerked them away. She narrowed her eyes at him as he shuffled away.

_What’s Malfoy up to this time? _She wondered as she watched him slip back into his seat in the corner. Once he was settled Mari turned back to her friends, Madam Rosemerta came with Cullen’s butterbeer moments later.__

__Sometime later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood up from their table and headed for the door._ _

__“Hey, I’m gonna head back with them,” Mari said, getting up and grabbing her jacket._ _

__Her friends looked up at her._ _

__“Oh, okay,” Cullen said._ _

__“Bye.” She waved already following the trio out the door as a chorus of byes came from the group she’d left. The cold air hit her hard. She speed-walked after them, not wanting to lose them in the snow. They turned around when they heard her coming. “Did you see Malfoy?”_ _

__“Yeah,” Harry said, the 3 of them stopped so she could catch up._ _

__“He seemed suspicious to you too, right?” She asked, wrapping her arms around her chest in a futile attempt to keep warm._ _

__“Very.” He said._ _

__“What do you suppose he’s up to?” She asked. Somewhere in front of them Katie Bell and her friend were arguing._ _

__“We don’t know if he’s up to anything,” Hermione said._ _

__“Malfoy’s always up to something.” Mari shook her head, her already rosy cheeks slowly reddening against the cold air._ _

__“That is fair, ‘Mione” Ron said, turning to her._ _

__She sighed. “We will keep an eye out for Draco, but so far he’s just acting weird.”_ _

__Mari groaned and looked down at her feet, knowing that was the best she was gonna get out of Hermione. “Alright.”_ _

__“I agree, he’s being strange but as far as we know, he hasn’t done anything.” She said._ _

__“Yet.” Mari corrected her, “He hasn’t done anything yet.”_ _

__“Well, there’s nothing we can do until he does.”_ _

__Mari kicked the snow lamely. “That’s just show biz baby.” She joked._ _

__The 3 only looked at her with a confused yet amused look on their face. Like they didn’t quite understand the joke. But she didn’t bother to explain and kept walking._ _

__“So, Ron how’s Lavender?” She asked in a singsong voice._ _

__“How am I supposed to know?” He said, confused._ _

__“God, you’re thick.” Mari rolled her eyes. “You haven’t noticed her huge and painstakingly obvious crush on you?”_ _

__“On me?” He asked._ _

__Hermione made a pained noise that they ignored._ _

__“Obviously.”_ _

__Ron opened his mouth to respond when in front of them there was a scream. They all looked up to see Katie Bell hovering high above the ground, her mouth open wide and arms outstretched. She was still for a moment before she jerked side to side like she was nothing more than a doll in the hands of a small child with budding anger issues._ _

__“Oh my god.” Mari gasped and Katie dropped from the air._ _

__“Don’t get any closer.” A voice came from behind them. “Get back, all of yah.”_ _

__As they split for Hagrid to walk past them Mari spotted the opal necklace Katie had touched laying in the snow._ _

__“No, no, no,” Hagrid said under his breath as he scooped an unconscious Katie into his arms._ _

__Without thinking she reached down for the necklace._ _

__“Do not touch that,” Hagrid warned as Harry grabbed her shoulders, pulling her away from the necklace. “Except for the wrappings. Do you understand?”_ _

__They nodded and Harry squatted down to re-wrap it. Hagrid turned, bringing Katie back to the School. When they got back to the school, Mari told McGonagall and Snape what she’d seen, though it wasn’t much before splitting off from the trio._ _

__Near the great hall, she found Lucy and her friends on their way to dinner._ _

__“Oh my god, did you hear?” She asked, her voice low as she approached them, noting Draco, Pansy, and Blaise behind them. She assumed they were all coming from Slytherin common room. Though, she doubted they’d been together, considering how much she knew Lucy and her friends hated Draco and his._ _

__Lucy’s group thought Draco’s were horrible wizard Nazis and Draco’s thought they were blood traitors._ _

__“Hear what?” Lucy asked._ _

__“Katie Bell’s been cursed.” She said quietly._ _

__“What?” Lucy’s friend, Adrian Kane asked. Adrian was a 5th year Slytherin with caramel blonde hair, light warm-toned skin, deep brown eyes, and a lean frame. Mari didn’t know him well but he was always nice and polite whenever they interacted._ _

__“It was a cursed necklace,” Mari said. “She’s on her way to St. Mungo’s right now.”_ _

__“Where did she even get a cursed necklace?” Lucy’s other friend, Eden Harlow asked in a hushed tone, seemingly understanding Mari’s quiet voice more than Adrian. She tucked a strand of her dark brown, almost black, hair behind her ear, her dark blue eyes bore into her._ _

__“Well, Harry has his theories,” She said, subconsciously looking back at Draco, but the others didn’t notice. “But he hasn’t any proof.”_ _

__“He’s Harry Potter,” Eden said. “He’ll get to the bottom of it eventually.”_ _

__“But it gets worse,” Mari shook her head. “It might’ve been a failed attempt at Dumbledore’s life. She was bringing the necklace to him when she touched it.”_ _

__“Oh my god.” Adrian frowned._ _

__“I feel so stupid. After Katie dropped it I just reached down and tried to grab it, like a dumb ass.”_ _

__“Why’d you do that?” Lucy asked._ _

__“I don’t know, I’m not smart.” She looked back and Pansy and Blaise were the only ones behind them, Draco nowhere to be seen._ _

___Proof of guilt? _She wondered._ _ __

__

__

__“What do you think’s gonna happen?” Adrian asked._ _

__“If I’m being honest, I don’t know.” Mari shrugged. “This isn’t like when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. That was a threat to everyone at Hogwarts but this is focused. Someone has made an attempt on Dumbledore’s life and considering the state of things, I doubt it’ll be the last.”_ _

__They nodded._ _

__“And I should mention, I know news at Hogwarts travels faster than the speed of light but for now try and keep this on the down-low.” She moved her hands down like she was pushing something down, repeating the motion a few times as they entered the great hall._ _

__“No problem,” Eden said._ _

__“Thanks, I probably shouldn’t have spilled to the first people I saw but,” She paused, trying to find the words._ _

__“Don’t lose sleep over it.” Adrian said, “Everyone will know soon enough.”_ _

__“Yeah, but you didn’t hear it from me.” Mari pointed finger guns at them. “Peace out, you three.”  
“Bye.” They said as she split from them, walking backwards towards the Gryffindor table. _ _

__“Is it true?” Ginny asked when Mari sat down across from her._ _

__“Jesus okay, I just left McGonagall's office, how’d you find out?” She said, taken off guard._ _

__“I heard someone say something about it in the hallway.”_ _

__“Literally how?” Mari asked, shoveling mashed potatoes onto her plate. “It’s been like 45 minutes, and that’s exaggerating.”_ _

__“I don’t know man, news travels fast at Hogwarts.” Ginny shrugged._ _

__Mari stabbed a piece of chicken with her fork and piled mixed vegetables onto her plate before she began telling Ginny what happened, then Neville came and sat down and she had to tell him too. She realized she’d probably have to tell that story a million times over considering everyone would want to know._ _

___Great, just great, _she thought._ _ __

__

__She was mobbed with questions when they got back to Gryffindor common room, but she only gave partial answers. She enjoyed leaving people guessing, plus it wasn’t really their business._ _

__It wasn’t until she went to bed that the levity of it all hit her. _Someone tried to kill Dumbledore. _That couldn’t have been Draco, could it? Obviously, he was a horrible bully but could he really be a killer, or attempted killer?_ _ __

__

__

__She didn’t know why she was defending him to herself, but it felt weird and she didn’t like it so she put her mind elsewhere._ _

__Time passed and nothing more happened. She studied, did her homework, spent time with her friends, went to Quidditch practice, and comforted Ginny after she and Dean fought, but nothing happened. The next thing she knew she was sitting in the locker room before the game against Slytherin and listening to Harry’s pre-game speech._ _

__She flexed her fingers tight around the middle of her Nimbus 2001 that her parents had gotten her the year before when she made the team. She turned to Ginny, who was sitting at her side. “We got this, right?”_ _

__“Not with that attitude, we don’t,” Ginny said firmly, pulling her red hair back into a ponytail. Mari had already forced Hermione to loosely braid her hair that morning, she was trash at braiding her own hair._ _

__She inhaled. “Okay. We got this.” She stated._ _

__“That’s more like it,” Ginny said as they stood up and started for the Quidditch pitch. She glared when she saw Malfoy opposite her on the pitch._ _

__He ran a hand through his platinum blonde hair and adjusted his robes._ _

__“I wanna fucking win.” She told the team, turning away from the Slytherins._ _

__“Then let’s fucking win,” Harry said._ _

__Shortly after the game began and she zoomed through the air, throwing the Quaffle to Ginny as 2 Slytherin chasers came at her. Ginny caught the Quaffle and reached the Slytherin goal, scoring on their Keeper before he even knew what hit him._ _

__“And Gryffindor chaser Ginny Weasley starts us off with the first score of the game.” The commentator, Arlo Proctor, a 7th year Gryffindor declared. The Gryffindor and most of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff crowd went wild._ _

__That was Ginny, it never failed to impress her how good Ginny was and she was only a 5th year. She would say Ginny could go pro if the world wasn’t falling apart around them._ _

__With Slytherin now in possession of the Quaffle she sped off after Urquhart, who passed the ball to Vaisley. The Slytherin viewers jeered as Vaisley approached Ron, they were sure they were about to even the score. Mari held her breath as the Quaffle left Vaisley’s hand at top speed, but Ron slammed the Quaffle away from the goal. Mari, seeing her shot, sped to the open Quaffle as a 3rd of the crowd cheered._ _

__“Ron Weasley amazingly blocks an attempted score by Vaisley!”_ _

__“Gotcha.” She grinned and flew off to the Slytherin goal. This time, the Keeper was ready but Mari took a risky shot below his legs and watched with a huge smile on her face as it soared past him and through the hoop._ _

__“Gryffindor scores against thanks to Ms. Adler!” Arlo announced._ _

__“Nice shot Adler!” Ginny flew over to give her a high five before they flew back off._ _

__As she flew toward Urquhart, she noticed a certain blonde's eyes on her. She turned, Malfoy was watching her with a look she didn’t recognize as she flew past him._ _

__“Eyes on the Snitch, ferret boy!” She warned. “Not that you could catch it anyways!”_ _

__Whatever snarky reply Draco snapped back with was lost into the air as she was already too far past him to hear it. She put the strange look to the back of her mind as the game continued._ _

__Sometime later it was 6-0, the Gryffindor team was on top of their game, Ron was saving every score attempt by Slytherin, the Chasers had only missed one score, and Coote and Peakes, the Beaters were knocking the Bludger like mad. Mari eyed Harry, who was high above the game surveying for the snitch whereas Draco was flying low._ _

___50/50 chance, _she thought._ _ __

__

__

__She kicked back into action when Dean, who’d replaced Katie Bell, flew past toward her with the Quaffle and 2 Slytherin Chasers on his tail. Swiftly, he passed the ball to Mari but kept flying hoping the Chasers would keep following him. They did._ _

__“Idiots.” She chuckled to herself as she flew toward the goal, her hair, which had come out of her braid sometime before, whipped at her face fiercely at the speed she was going. By the time they realized she had the ball she was already inches from scoring, and by the time they turned around after her, the ball had left her hand._ _

__“Gryffindor’s very own Marinette Adler scores again!” Arlo bellowed. “Looking quite nice as she does might I add.”_ _

__“Proctor!”_ _

__“Sorry professor!”_ _

__She soared upwards, waving to the cheering crowd, her eyes glistening and a grin plastered to her face. Everyone was seemingly on cloud 9 at Gryffindor’s success. In the middle of the Hufflepuff crowd, Lucy, Adrian, and Eden were standing with Ben giving her huge thumbs-ups. She blew them a kiss. She turned to the rest of the Slytherins, who were nowhere near as happy as Lucy and her friends. They all looked rather gloomy._ _

__She found Cullen among the Ravenclaws grinning at her hugely. She winked at him and pretended to catch it and tuck it in his pocket. Then she felt eyes glaring at her. She didn’t have to turn to know who it was, but she did anyway._ _

__50 feet away, Draco was angrily gripping the handle of his broom so hard his knuckles were white, well whiter than normal, and glaring at her intensely._ _

___Someone doesn’t like being scored on._ __

__

__

__That’s when she saw it. The Golden Snitch buzzed around her head at high speeds. She couldn’t touch it but she turned to Harry desperately hoping he’d seen it._ _

__He had, but unfortunately so had Draco. They both sped after the Snitch as it flew away from her._ _

__“What’s this?” Arlo said. “It appears Malfoy and Potter are both after the snitch!”_ _

__The game halted as everyone watched Harry and Draco zip after the Snitch. It led them around the pitch twice before it made a sudden turn. Mari’s eyes widened realizing it was coming right at her and more alarmingly so were Draco and Harry, at high speed._ _

__Harry expertly ducked below her but Draco slammed right into her, hard. The air left her lungs and her body left her broom. Luckily, her hands stayed on her broom so she dangled freely in the air instead of plummeting to the ground a hundred feet below._ _

__“There has been a collision in the air!”_ _

__“Fuck you, Malfoy!” She cursed at him, but he’d already restarted after Harry._ _

__“Potter is almost at the Snitch while Malfoy attempts to catch up and Ms. Adler is trying to get back on her broom!”_ _

__Mari swung once, then twice gaining momentum before she threw her leg up over her broom. Once she was secure again she looked back up in time to see Harry with the snitch in hand and a grin on his face. Behind him, Draco looked like he just realized murder was an option._ _

__“Potter’s got the Snitch!” Arlo declared, “Gryffindor wins!”_ _

__The field hadn’t yet filled with people when Mari landed. Her anger at Draco for nearly ending her life at the ripe age of 16 had fallen to the back of her mind. She laughed giddily, giving Harry a quick hug, high fiving Coote and Peakes, exchanging a fist bump with Dean, and wrapping an arm around Ginny’s shoulder. She was too happy to notice Draco’s glare set on her._ _

__She paused when she reached Ron. “Ron. Ronald. Mr. Weasley.” She started. “You amaze me.”_ _

__He grinned as she went in for a hug, swinging her around. He set her down as the crowd rushed out from the stands and swarmed them._ _

__It took the team a while to work their way back to the changing room, but they eventually made it with their smiles still plastered to their faces._ _

__“We fucking won!” Mari declared once the door swung shut. There was a loud round of whoops and hollers. “Plus Seamus got some Fire Whiskey! Let’s go celebrate!”  
There was another round of cheers before they settled and changed before quickly making their way back to the castle to celebrate in the common room. The Gryffindors went wild when the team entered, already pouring the Fire Whiskey. _ _

__Mari immediately did two shots, receiving a cheer from the crowd. She shook her head rapidly as the liquid burned its way down her throat. She honestly was always grateful when there was an event with Fire Whiskey, she’d rather be wasted off her ass than worrying about the war unfolding outside Hogwarts._ _

__And maybe that was an unhealthy coping mechanism but she didn't know how to deal with it healthily._ _

__Some time and several shots later, Mari found herself somewhere between buzzed and drunk. She was still functioning and thinking properly, everything was just a little fuzzy. She looked around the room for her friends. Hermione and Harry had disappeared, Ginny and Dean were sitting off in the corner of the room having a celebratory snog, Ron had left with Lavender sometime before and Neville had slipped upstairs to sleep a while before, not really a big party fan._ _

__She turned to the boy at her side on the couch who was sitting, legs spread with a half-empty bottle of Fire Whiskey between his thighs. She grinned. “So, Arlo, how was commentating?”_ _

__He turned to her, clearly quite buzzed himself. “Keeps me on my toes.”_ _

__“Oh really?” She asked, absentmindedly grabbing the bottle from between his thighs. “Is that so?”_ _

__He gulped, watching her take a swig of the alcohol. She glanced at him, realizing she’d practically stolen his bottle. “You don’t mind sharing, do you?”_ _

__“Uh, no.” He shook his head frantically. “Not at all.”_ _

__She hummed, parting her lips and letting the liquid run down her throat. She handed the bottle back to him and watched him do the same. “God, it’s quite crowded in here.”_ _

__Arlo shot a brow up into his long dark brown curls. “Wanna find somewhere a bit less… crowded?”_ _

__Yet another smile broke out on her lips. “Sure.”_ _

__With that, the two slipped out of the Gryffindor common room. They wandered a bit before finding an empty classroom. She jumped up onto the edge of a spare desk and he sat cross-legged on the floor, pulling a small plastic bag out of his pocket._ _

__“What’s that?” She leaned forward._ _

__He pulled a joint out of the bag. “It’s a muggle plant-”_ _

__She laughed. “Oh, it’s weed.”_ _

__“Right, your mom’s a muggle.”_ _

__“Yeah.” A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips as he pulled out lighter._ _

__“Do you mind if I?” He asked, placing the joint into his lips and holding up the lighter._ _

__“Only if I get a few hits.”_ _

__He paused, pressing his lips into a tight line like he was thinking about it. “Hm, I supposed I can spare a few hits.” He lit it._ _

__She pressed her palms together flat like she was a beggar. “Thank you for giving to the needy sir.”_ _

__He blew out a puff of smoke. “What can I say, I’m very charitable.” He held his arms outstretched._ _

__“How’d you sneak this in anyways?” She asked, pulling her wand out to fiddle with it._ _

__“A tactic employed by coke importers on the Mexican-American border that you don't wanna know the specifics of.” He didn’t miss a beat.  
“Um, yeah, I'm gonna trust you on that one.”_ _

__Arlo pushed up off the ground and crossed the room to sit next to Mari on the desk, offering her the joint, which she took. “A hit for the needy.” He said._ _

__“Thanks.” She rolled her eyes and took a deep inhale._ _

__“I really wanna have a meaningless makeout session with you right now Mari.” He said suddenly._ _

__“Bloody hell, let me get another hit in at least.” She said taking another hit._ _

__“So you don-”_ _

__“Shut up.” She pulled his face in, letting the joint fall to the stone floor as their lips crashed together. He groaned as she climbed into his lap._ _

__“Fuck okay.” He grabbed her hips._ _

__They made out for a while, so heavily that they didn’t hear the footsteps coming their way or the low “God, what is that stench?”_ _

__They only pulled apart when the door came open. “Filthy blood mating I see.”_ _

__Mari toppled out of Arlo’s lap and pulled her wand out, her anger from the match coming back to the surface. “Malfoy.” She scowled._ _

__“Adler, I see you're _messing _with just about everyone these days.” He glared._ _ __

__

__

__“Oi, Malfoy, we’re celebrating,” Arlo said._ _

__Draco ignored him._ _

__“Really? A few compliments of your scoring is all it takes?” He spat it like he pitied her. “That’s rather pathetic if you ask me.”_ _

__“Good thing no one did then Draco.” She flexed her hand tighter around her wand. “What are you doing in this area of the castle anyways? Shouldn’t you be off in your little dungeon recovering from your crushing loss?”_ _

__“I’m a prefect, I don’t have to answer to you and I would’ve won if you hadn’t gotten in my way.” He glared._ _

__“Arlo.” Mari’s blood was boiling. “Give Malfoy and I a moment alone.”_ _

__“Are you sure-”_ _

__“Yes!”_ _

__“Okay, okay.” Arlo grabbed the remnants of his joint and his Fire Whiskey bottle and left._ _

__“I got in your way!” She fumed, her head snapping back to Draco. “I got in your fucking way? You nearly killed me!”_ _

__She poked him in the chest with her wand forcing him to back up._ _

__“Yeah, I would’ve caught that Snitch had you not been in the way.” Draco seethed, trying to seem tough despite the fact she was currently backing him into the wall behind him._ _

__“Oh please.” She rolled her eyes. “You couldn’t beat Harry to the Snitch if it was a foot in front of you!”_ _

__His back hit the wall._ _

__“I wouldn’t be surprised if you ran into me on purpose so you could have someone to blame for your own failure!”_ _

__He glared at her, he didn’t like that comment. “You should learn to keep your mouth shut, Adler.”_ _

__“Should I?” She huffed. She was standing so close to him she could smell his cologne. She hated how nice he smelt, someone as vile as him should smell like rotten eggs, shit, and pit sweat but he didn’t. She suddenly became aware of the angry sort of tension between them. “Maybe you should stop trying to kill your classmates.”_ _

__“I haven’t tried to kill anyone.” He said firmly, his eyes scanning her face. At his side his fist tightened, Mari was just surprised_ _

__“Sure, I believe that.” She said sarcastically._ _

__He pushed off the wall, forcing Mari to step backward. He aggressively pointed in her face, with a mere inch between their chests. “You have no clue what you’re talking about.”_ _

__“I don’t?” She tilted her head to the side_ _

__“No, you don’t.” He said before he shoved past her and stormed out the door. She watched him go, waiting a minute before leaving._ _

__She found Arlo waiting down the hallway for her, sipping on his Fire Whiskey and leaning against the wall, talking to one of the paintings. He turned to her when he saw her coming._ _

__“What the bloody hell was that about?” He asked._ _

__“Nothing.” She waved it off. “Absolutely nothing.”_ _


	4. Chapter 4

She tossed her bright red apple back and forth between her hands as the November wind licked against the space between the top of her over-the-knee socks and the bottom of her skirt. She kicked herself for not opting for her dress pants, McGonagall had informed them they would be having an outside lesson beforehand, she’d just forgotten. She kicked herself even more for accidentally leaving her cloak inside.

“Ms. Adler, if you’re not going to eat your apple, dispose of it.” McGonagall paused her instruction.

A cheeky grin graced Mari’s face as she caught her apple in her right hand. “I can do more than that.” She pulled her wand from the waistband of her skirt and pointed it at the red fruit. “Draconifors.”

The class watched as the apple in her hand changed into a small pearly white dragon. It darted around her hand before she clasped it in her palm.

“Look,” She said. “It’s an Antipodean Opaleye.”

McGonagall sighed. “5 points to Gryffindor for the excellent transfiguration. Now transfigure it back and finish your apple or I’ll remove them again.”

“Straight away professor,” Mari said before turning the dragon back into an apple. The class clapped at the show and she gave a sarcastic bow before McGonagall began teaching again.

“You’re lucky McGonagall likes you.” Ron leaned down to tell her.

“You think I would’ve tried that if she didn’t?” She rebutted.

“I’m surprised she let you have your apple in class at all,” Harry said from her other side.

Mari nodded, taking a bite of her apple. “See, I thought she was gonna tell me to get rid of it right when I walked in but she said she’d make an exception for today since we’re having an outdoor lesson.”

The boys nodded.

“Personally, I just wish I coulda kept the dragon.” 

“You could’ve named it Draco.” Harry joked.

Ron let out a laugh that he poorly disguised as a cough while Mari snickered. “Nah, I’ll just get a white ferret.” 

Mari glanced over at Draco as Ron and Harry turned back to McGonagall, only to find he was already looking at her. His eyes fixed with the same look from the Quidditch game that she didn’t recognize, but when he realized she’d turned to him he looked away. She narrowed her eyes at him and turned back to McGonagall.

“Since you seemingly can’t behave when you choose your own groups, I have chosen groups for you,” McGonagall stated, earning a collective groan from the class. “How well you do today will influence our next group activity, is that clear?”

They all nodded as she pulled a parchment from her cloak.

McGonagall began listing groups of 5 that would split off together and turn a series of objects into other objects, as transfiguration normally went. Mari waved to Harry as he got grouped with 2 Ravenclaws, a Hufflepuff, and a Slytherin.

“At least you’ll get a good grade.” She said as he left to stand next to his group.

“Next, Ben Warner, Marinette Adler, Ron Weasley,” 

“He-hey.” She elbowed Ron in the side happily.

“Cullen Briggs and,”

Mari held her breath, she didn’t care who was next as long as it wasn’t Malfoy considering she was friends with just about everyone besides him.

“Draco Malfoy.”

She let out an audible. “Oh god.”

McGonagall then ushered them together. Mari made sure to stand as far away from Draco as possible as McGonagall gave the rest of the groups. Once she did she said. “And these groups are final, no exceptions. Meet back here in 45 minutes.”

Mari groaned, she had been hoping Draco would raise a fuss with McGonagall and get swapped. No such luck.

“A mudblood, 2 blood traitors, and a halfbreed, this’ll be fun,” Draco grumbled.

“Shove off, Malfoy,” Ron said at the same time Mari said.

“Don’t act like we want you here.”

“Let’s just get this over with,” Cullen said, shaking his head.

Ben frowned but nodded, Ron made an annoyed sound and Mari sent a glare Draco’s way. 

“Whatever.” She groaned with an eye-roll before they set off further into the forest. It was safer during the day, so long as they didn’t venture too far off into the trees. Mari figured they were only being let off on their own because they were upperclassmen. The younger students never had activities like that.

“So we each need to find an object in nature and use a transfiguration spell we learned in class this year on it,” Cullen told the group, taking the charge. Mari walked between Ron and Ben while Draco slunk behind the group.

“McGonagall already said that.” Draco spat from several feet behind Mari.

“He’s taking initiative, Malfoy.” Mari defended. “That’s better than bitching and moaning.”

“Oh, you could talk about bitching.” He said.

“What did you say, Malfoy?” Ron warned hotly, stopping in his tracks and turning to Draco.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Cullen said at the same time. “Let’s not.” He stepped between the two while Ben backed away.

“Yeah, Draco,” Mari said firmly. “Let’s not.”

Draco didn’t respond but glared at his group members, a sour look on his face. With that, Mari turned back and began walking again, taking a final bite from her apple and tossing the core off to the edge of the trail. The boys simmered for a second before following her.

“That spell you did earlier was pretty cool,” Ben said softly, walking at her side while Cullen pulled Ron to the front of the group, away from Draco.

“Ah yes, talented Ms. Adler and her excellent transfiguration skills.” Draco spat. “We learned that spell in 3rd year.”

Mari rolled her eyes and shook her head, ignoring him. “Thanks, Ben. How’s it going with Lucy?”

He smiled and his cheeks turned pink as he looked down at his feet and rubbed the back of his neck. Draco muttered something under his breath behind them and Ben’s smile fell. Mari shot a glare at him then turned back to Ben.

“Just ignore him.” She shook her head, grabbing his elbow and lightly guiding him forward to Cullen and Ron, leaving a large space between them and Draco.

“It’s like McGonagall wants a fight to happen,” Ron remarked, his voice low.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and find a hippogriff,” Mari said.

“Or I could just take care of him,” Ron said darkly. 

Cullen shook his head. “I don’t want to work with him any more than the rest of you but a fight won’t help anything.”

Mari huffed. “We should each find what we’re going to transfigure then.”

They nodded.

“Ron, I’m sure we can find you a spider to transfigure somewhere around here.” She joked.

He seemingly didn’t find it funny. “Shut up, Mari.” 

She laughed at him as the wind picked up, whipping her skirt around. She shuddered, wrapping her arms around her chest. “Shit, it’s cold.” It was a horrid mix of chilly and windy that made her feel cold inside as well as out. She shivered against the chill.

“Where’s your cloak?” Cullen asked. 

“She forgot it inside,” Ron said.

“Smart.”

“She’s not a Ravenclaw for a reason.” Ron joked.

“Hey-” She hit him in the chest- “and you’re not a Hufflepuff for a reason, dickwad.”

He held his hands up in defense. “I’m kidding. I’m kidding.”

“Yeah, I’m not.” She shook her head. “...I’m still cold.”

Cullen sighed and shimmied off his cloak, holding it out to her. “Here.”

“How gentlemanly,” She plucked the cloak from his hand. As she slipped it over her shoulders, Draco gave an annoyed sound behind them. She looked back at him, rolling up the sleeves, Cullen was, after all, quite a bit larger than her.

“Finally covering up, Adler,” Draco remarked, he’d closed the gap while they were talking and was now only a foot behind the rest of the group.

She glared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re just asking for attention in that skirt.” He looked her up and down. “It’s far too small.”

“My skirt fits just fine, thank you very much.” She wrapped Cullen’s cloak around herself and turned on her heels, grabbing Ron, who looked like he wanted to break Draco’s nose, by the arm, and kept walking.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Ron said through gritted teeth.

She shook her head. “Just keep walking.” 

Behind them, Cullen slotted himself between Draco and Ben, who was clearly afraid of the former. By the end of class, Mari was thoroughly tired of Draco’s comments. However, they’d all managed to transfigure something and McGonagall had given the full marks and 5 points each to their respective houses.

“How was your group?” Mari asked Harry, her own cloak draped over her arm and her book bag slung across her chest as she, Harry, and Ron made their way to Gryffindor common room to put their stuff away before dinner.

“Fine, fine.” Harry shrugged. “How was yours?”

“Do you have to ask?” Ron groaned.

“Oh, I’m sure Malfoy was just lovely.” 

“If by lovely you mean downright awful then yes,” Mari said, tightly gripping the railing as they paused for the staircase to move. 

“How can you play Quidditch but you don’t like the moving staircases?” Harry asked, eyeing her hand.

“I can control where I’m going on a broom, Harry.” She said as they moved closer to the entrance to the common room. Harry shook his head like he didn’t understand her reasoning.

“Looks like Neville forgot the password again,” Ron said. 

Neville was standing in front of the fat lady who had her arms crossed and a severe look on her face. “No password, no entrance.” 

“You’ve known me for 6 years.” He said, turning when he heard Mari, Ron, and Harry come up behind him. “Please tell me you know the password.”

Mari sighed, stepping in front of him. “Gobbledygook.”

The portrait swung open.

“How am I supposed to remember that?” 

Ron clapped a hand to Neville’s shoulder as they entered the common room. “You’ll get ‘em next time.”

“That’s the problem, I don’t think I will.” Neville frowned as he and the boys walked up the stairs to the dorms, Mari following behind. 

“Be quick, we have practice after dinner but I’m hoping we can start early.” Harry tossed over his shoulder as they turned to the boy dorm.

“Yeah, yeah.” She waved him off, turning in the opposite direction.

Once inside the dorm, she tossed her cloak onto her bed and her bag followed suit. She crossed the room, looking for one of her hair ties. After a minute or two of searching, she found one under her bed. She stepped in front of one of the standing mirrors in the room and tied her hair up into a high ponytail. 

Once her hair was secured she dropped her arms to her side and looked herself up and down in the mirror. Her eyes fell to the bottom of her skirt. Was it really too short? She wondered as she ran her thumb and forefinger over the hem, which fell at her midthigh.

“Why do I care what Malfoy thinks about my skirt,” She thought out loud. Another moment of silence passed before she decided she didn’t and headed for the door. She paused for a second, before doubling back and grabbing her cloak. She didn’t want to forget it when she had to face the cold again.

“Oh, I need to hurry up?” She remarked to herself, finding the boys weren’t in the common room. She stood next to the stairs, impatiently waiting. After a few minutes passed she groaned and trudged up the stairs to the boys’ dorm.

“C’mon shitheads, I thought we were-” 

The room was empty. They’d left without her. 

“Great.” She complained, before turning around and heading to dinner by herself. She slipped into the hallway and onto the moving stairs, which began shifting moments after she stepped on.

As she pulled on her cloak, something in her peripheral caught her attention: Malfoy looking around like he was checking to make sure no one was watching and darting around the corner. “What are you up to?”

It was just luck that the staircase stopped so she could follow him, she didn’t think twice. She peered around the corner where Malfoy had been standing just in time to see him creeping around the next. Quietly, she followed, yet again reaching the corner to watch him go around the next. 

Quicker that time, she followed after him but when she peered around the corner she found a dead end and no Malfoy insight.

“What the hell?” She stepped out into the open. She stood there for a moment, eyes scanning the hallway before she turned, unaware that Draco had crept up behind her and slammed right into his chest. 

“Following me, Adler?” He spat, forcing her backward until she was trapped between the wall and him, his hands pressed flat to the wall on either side of her head.

“No.” She said firmly. “I got lost.”

“You got lost?” He scoffed. “You’re gonna have to lie better than that.”

She narrowed her eyes, glaring up at him. “I’m not lying.”

He looked her up and down, his eyes set hard and Mari suddenly felt like she was under a microscope. He looked to the end of the hall, then the other, and she couldn’t help but eye his jaw, tense with what she assumed was anger. Then his hand moved from the wall to her jaw, roughly turning her head to the side so he could lean down next to her ear. 

“Don’t you know it’s rude to snoop?” He said in a low voice, his breath tickling her ear. Reasonably she knew she should be shoving his hand off and hexing him into oblivion but she didn’t

She ignored her heart as it beat out of her chest and the flutter in her lower belly. “I wasn’t snooping.” 

“Oh really?” Draco arched a brow and Mari felt the cold metal of his rings leave her jaw until only his index finger was left, tracing her jawline before he moved his fingers to the collar of her cloak. “Finally got your own cloak?”

“I wasn’t snooping.” She said again, firmer this time.

“Yeah?” He questioned.

“Yeah.”

“Then I guess we’re done here.” He pushed off the wall and she watched him round the corner, leaving her against the wall. She waited until her pulse slowed and she’d calmed down before leaving the wall herself. 

Her mind wandered as her feet carried her to the Great Hall. What had all that been about? More specifically, why had she reacted to him like that? She felt eyes on her as she entered the Great Hall. She didn’t have to look to know Draco was watching her walk to her spot at the Gryffindor table.

“Where have you been?” Hermione asked, sitting with Neville.

“Got lost,” She lied smoothly. “Where’s Ginny and the boys?”

“Quidditch pitch and they told me you need to get down there as soon as possible,” Hermione said.

“Can’t a girl get time to eat?” Mari complained.

“Sorry.” Hermione frowned.

“It’s fine.” She shook her head and grabbed a Raspberry and Cream Cheese Danish from the table. “We still on for studying in the common room with Luna when I get back, Neville?”

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“Alright,” She reached out and ruffled his hair. “See you then.”

“Mari?” Hermione asked. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah-” She took a bite of the Danish- “Why?”

“You just look a little… flushed.” 

“I have naturally rosy cheeks,” Mari said, beginning to walk away backward. “I always look a bit flushed.”

“More than usual though-”

“I gotta go.” She gestured behind herself before flipping around and rushing out of the hall, eating her Danish as she went. 

“There you are,” Ginny said, waiting outside the changing room when she got there. “Where were you?”

“It’s a big castle, I think we all can get lost sometimes.” She said as Ginny ushered her inside.

“Well, hurry up. Harry made me stay behind and wait for you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Mari waved her off, pulling off her uniform and changing into her Quidditch robes. Once she’d finished changing they grabbed their brooms and went to the Quidditch pitch.

“Look who finally decided to join us,” Harry said.

“Maybe if you guys hadn’t left without me.”

“Sh-” He held a hand up- “No sassing the captain.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sorry captain.”

“Okay.” Harry clapped his hands together. “Now that we’re all here, let’s get started.”

When practice began, she put whatever had happened between her and Draco to the back of her mind, or tried her best to. Which wasn’t easy, to say the least. Every now and then, when she wasn’t the one with the ball and had a moment to think, it trickled back into her skull. She hated it. 

She didn’t want to think of Draco Malfoy and his stupid cold rings on his stupid cold hands caressing her jaw. She didn’t want to wonder why he did it. And she especially didn’t want to think about his hands doing anything else. 

Yet there she was, letting her thoughts trickle in.

They worked until the sun was setting in the distance and by some miracle, Mari made it through.

“You okay?” Ginny asked in the locker room as they changed. “You seemed a bit spacey tonight.”

“Oh,” She shook her head as she put her foot up on the bench so she could roll her socks up. “Yeah, just got a lot of homework.” Which technically wasn’t a lie.

Ginny nodded. “Okay.”

“Yeah, Neville, Luna, and I are studying in the common room tonight.” Mari slipped on her robe. “You’re welcome to join.”

“Um-“ She glanced back at Dean- “Sure.”

“Trouble in paradise?” She asked, furrowing her brows.

Ginny shook her head. “No, no trouble.”

“Good, good.” Mari hummed, walking backward to the door. “I gotta go sneak Luna into the common room, Neville doesn’t like doing it.”

Ginny gave her a thumbs up and Mari slipped out into the frigid evening air, and she was again alone to her thoughts. She rubbed her hands together, attempting to generate warmth as her breath became visible in front of her face. When the hand rubbing proved fruitless she wrapped her arms around herself, tucking her hands under her arms. She hated cold hands.

After several minutes of hurried speed walking, she made it back to the castle and headed for Ravenclaw tower. She found Luna waiting at the bottom of the spiral staircase to the entrance into the Ravenclaw common room.

“Ready to go?” She asked.

Luna nodded, her hands wrapped tight around the strap of her book bag as they began walking to Gryffindor tower. “How was practice?”

“Fine, a bit boring, but fine.” Mari shrugged. “What classes do you have assignments for?” 

“I have Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Divination assignments.” 

Mari grinned. “Who was it Trelawny said was gonna die this year?”

“Grant Beaumont,” Luna said. Grant was a Gryffindor in Luna and Ginny’s year. “He didn’t seem that worried about it though.”

“Why would he be?” Mari asked. “I mean, I know Trelawny can prophesize, but c’mon she says someone’s gonna die every year and when has she been right? Do you remember when she ran into us and Cullen in 4th year and said I was gonna die?”

Luna nodded thoughtfully.

“I’m not one to say divination isn’t real because, c’mon, look where we are-” She gestured to the school around them as they approached the moving staircases- “But Trelawny’s got a screw or two loose.”

“Most Seers do,” Luna said, paying no attention as Mari gripped the railing of the stairs. “I imagine seeing the future would wear on your mind.”

“Probably.” She nodded. “Hey didn’t the Quibbler do an article on Seers over the Summer? They interviewed a few of them.”

“Well yes, but my father isn’t sure if they were true Seers,” Luna said as the staircase stopped and they came upon the Fat Lady’s portrait. Mari looked around making sure no professors or snitching yellow-eyed cats were around to see her sneak the Ravenclaw in.

“She’s not supposed to come in here.” The painting said.

“Mhmm.” Mari hummed. “Gobbledygook.” 

The portrait swung open and Mari herded Luna inside the porthole.

“That’s a rather peculiar word.” She said. “Gobbledygook.”

Mari chuckled as they entered the common room. “It’s always quite a peculiar word, sometimes I think she just mashes random letters together until she gets the weirdest word she can think of.”

“No no, gobbledygook is a word.” Luna shook her head. “It’s another word for gibberish.”

Mari smiled. “Only you would know that.”

“Know what?” Neville asked, he and Ginny were sitting across from each other on the floor by the fire with their supplies already laid out in front of them.

“What gobbledygook means,” Mari said as she and Luna sat down opposite each other forming a circle on the floor.

Ginny laughed, “Yeah, that is something only you would know.”

“What does it mean?” Neville asked as Mari pulled a piece of parchment from Ginny’s pile.

“Hey! Get your own.”

“You have a whole stack.”

“So?”

“It means gibberish,” Luna told Neville.

“So, I’m too lazy to go up and get my bag from my dorm room,” Mari argued.

“You’ll have to go up there eventually. How will you do your assignments without instructions?” Ginny said, frustrated.

“It’s all up here, baby.” Mari tapped her index finger to her temple.

“You don’t even have a quill.”

“Ah well-” Mari reached into her cloak- “I had my dad mail me in this bad boy.”

“What is that?” Ginny asked as Mari pulled a pen from her pocket.  
“It’s a ballpoint pen.” She grinned, holding it up for the group to see.

“Is that allowed?” Neville asked.

She shrugged. “Don’t know.”

“What does it do?” Luna asked, peering at the black pen in Mari’s palm.

“Neville, may I have something hard to write on?” She asked, grinning as she uncapped the pen.

He scrambled to hand her his Charms textbook.

“Watch and be amazed.” She said, holding up the parchment and textbook like a teacher reading a picture book so they could watch as she wrote her name on top of the paper.

“Wow.” The three breathed.

“No more dipping into ink every sentence,” Mari said. “Muggles stopped using quills ages ago. It is 1996 after all. I just can’t believe it took me this long to finally get some of these here.” 

It was then the common room door opened again, causing the group to turn.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” Mari said with a laugh to Cullen as he approached the group.

“I ran into him and asked him if he wanted to come,” Ginny said.

“How’d you get in?” She asked.

“Ginny gave me the password,” Cullen said, taking a seat between Mari and Ginny. “Gobbledygook, weird word. It means gibberish. Hey, you have a pen.”

“Yeah, I had my dad mail me some.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have another one on you by chance?” He asked. “I think I forgot my ink.”

“You’re lucky I keep an extra.” She said, reaching into her pocket and handing him her extra. 

“However, I did bring snacks,” Cullen said pulling various boxes of candy from his bag.

“Thank you, Mr. Briggs,” Ginny said happily, opening a box of Bertie Botts.

“How’d you know I missed diner?” Mari asked.

“It’s my 6th sense.” He joked.

The now group of five began working on their assignments. Neville helped Luna with her Herbology and in exchange, she helped him with his Astronomy, Cullen helped Mari(let her copy off him) with her Study of Ancient Runes, and Ginny snatched Neville’s Herbology assignment to copy off him while he was occupied with Luna.

“Cullen, what’s your wand wood?” Mari asked once she eventually finished copying his Ancient Runes work.

“Cypress.” He answered, not looking up from his parchment. “You?”

“Laurel,” She said, opening Neville’s Charms textbook.

“Wait, why are you exchanging wand woods?” Ginny asked, taking a bite of a licorice wand.

“It’s a Charms assignment,” Cullen said.

“What wand woods and cores mean and all that,” Mari added.

“We have to ask our friends their wand information, explain what that means and say if we agree with it or not,” Cullen explained further.

“They say Laurel wands can’t perform a dishonorable act,” Luna said.

“I’d say that’s pretty accurate.” Cullen chuckled.

“Cypress wands are said to be well matched to wizards who are self-sacrificing and willing-”

“Are you reading that straight out of the textbook?” Cullen asked, interrupting Mari.

“Yeah, so?” She asked.

“Nothing, nothing.” He laughed to himself.

“Hey, it says my wand might create a random strike of lightning if someone tries to take it while it’s happy with me,” Mari said, amazed as she grabbed a handful of Bertie Botts. “Fuckin cool.”

“Wait really?” Ginny asked.

“Yeah, isn’t that amazing?”

“That is pretty awesome,” Cullen said. “Wand core?”

“Phoenix feather. You?”

“Unicorn tail hair.”

Mari flipped to the wand core page and skimmed the words for a moment, popping a jelly bean into her mouth, happy to find it watermelon flavored. “Gentle yet intelligent users. Ha! Least powerful wand core.”

Cullen leaned over and tapped the page. “Wood. May. Compensate.” 

Ginny chuckled to herself. “That’s what she said.”

Mari pressed her eyes shut, trying not to laugh, Luna and Neville looked at each other before laughing and Cullen shook his head, despite the grin on his lips “Really proving you’re the Weasley twins’ sister, aren’t you.”

With that, all five of them began laughing. Throughout the rest of the night, Mari and Cullen got wand information from the rest of the group and told them what it meant while they worked. By the time Cullen and Luna left at about 10:30, it was a pretty productive night. They’d all finished most of their work and had a good time.

The three remaining stayed in the common room for another half an hour talking and cleaning up before heading off to bed. Once tucked in her bed, Mari’s thoughts went wild until she finally passed out sometime hours later. And unfortunately, she was not greeted by pleasant dreams...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you haven't noticed by now, while this is a Draco fic, I also want to focus on her relationship with her friends as well and I intend to continue doing so throughout the fic. Obviously, once she and Draco start, for a lack of a better word, fucking, he'll take more of the focus. I plan to get into his side of the story as well but for now, it makes more sense for Mari to have more scenes with her friends than Draco. 
> 
> If you wanna give me feedback that would be great. Let me know if you like my other OCs. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed.
> 
> Peace✌️


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Just a quick disclaimer! Following the at the time I started writing this chapter recent but now no longer recent cancellation of Tom Felton I can no longer support him but I’ll still continue to write this fic. That’s all. Thank you for ur time :)

_She was running, all her friends were dead and she was running, going as fast as her bare feet could take her. It didn’t matter that every step she took felt like stepping on glass or that low-hanging branches were scratching her face, she was running for her life. She’d been running for hours, days even but she couldn’t stop, not ever._

_She didn’t have her wand and she had no clue where it was. All she knew was all her friends were dead, it was dark, she was in pain, she was tired and she couldn’t stop running. Until finally, she fell, tripped, and slammed into the ground. She didn’t get up, her exhaustion taking over her she practically melted into the cold forest floor._

_Until there was a cackle, somewhere she couldn’t see. An evil cackle. Bellatrix Lestrange’s cackle. And she jumped up from the floor and grabbed for her wand only to find her pocket empty. She couldn’t stop herself from letting out a terrified whimper before a low growl came from somewhere else she couldn’t see. Fenrir Greyback._

_She tried to hide but the cackle and the growl followed her._

_Then, there was a voice, a horrible voice. She could hear the sneer in the words the voice spoke. “Stupid girl, you can’t hide.”_

_She knew that voice. Malfoy._

_She shook and tried not to cry as the woods around her began to move. Circling her. The cackle, growl, and the voice grew louder. She backed away, frantically looking for a way out. Until she tripped, falling back over a cold log._

_No. Logs don’t move._

_It was that stupid snake she couldn’t remember the name of._

_She tried to crawl away but the snake struck her. Again and again, until she was covered in blood, and then it all stopped. The moving, the snake, the cackling, the growling, the voice, and then a figure emerged from the woods in front of her._

_Her vision was blurry but she still sobbed in fear and pain. She didn’t have to see to know who it was. Voldemort._

_One desperate “Please.” fell from her lips before…_

_“Avada Kedavra!”_

_Then everything was green._

Mari shot upright in bed, a cold sweat causing her hair to stick to her face, neck, and panting chest. The light from the morning sun was not yet shining in but the sky outside wasn’t dark either. Across the dimly lit room, Hermione, who’d been up reading, eyed Mari with concern.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

“Bad dream,” Mari said, pulling her knees closer and dropping her head down, trying to catch her breath. “What time is it?”

“Six,” Hermione said. “I was about to get up and get ready myself.”

She ran a hand through her hair. “It’s six AM. Are you some kind of fucking machine?”

“We can’t all sleep until the last minute,” Hermione said.

“We can’t all actually get to sleep either.” She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, facing away from Hermione. “And for your information, I sleep until 7:30 giving me an hour and a half before class starts. That’s not sleeping until the last minute.”

“What about that time you slept until 8:45.”

“One time! That was one time.” She held up her index finger.

“Shhh,” Hermione shushed her. “Everyone is still sleeping.”

Mari winced. “Sorry, sorry.” She padded out of bed and to her trunk, grabbing a clean uniform for the day.

“How was your study group last night?” Hermione asked, also leaving her bed to get ready.

“Good.” She said, pulling off the Irish National Quidditch Team she’d gotten at the World Cup that she’d slept in the night before. “Great really, I think we’re gonna make it a weekly thing. You’re welcome to join if you want.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “I might. Sounds like you guys got a lot done.”

“Yeah, I just have to finish my Wandlore assignment,” Mari said. “Turns out Neville finished his during Magic History because no one was paying attention and Professor Binns just didn’t notice he was asking everyone their wand information.”

Hermione shook her head. “Why does no one pay attention in that class.”

“Because Binns just drones on and on and you can learn all the information in half the time by just reading the textbook.” Mari pulled on her skirt and began buttoning her shirt.

Hermione frowned. “I think Professor Binns’ lessons are quite insightful.”

“The man didn’t notice that he died, Hermione.” She paused for a moment then laughed a little. “Imagine being one of the students in class that day.”

“That’s not funny, Mari.” Hermione patronized. 

“You need to lighten up.” Mari shook her head. “Besides, they were all probably sleeping anyways, if Binns was even half as boring alive as he is dead.”

“Mari!” She said in a hushed yell.

Mari rolled her eyes as she finished putting on her uniform and crossed the room to the vanity the girls all shared, brushing through her hair. “You’re telling me you’ve _never_ caught a nap during one of his lectures?”

“Well-”

“You have, don’t lie. It’s not a bad thing, we all do it.” She said. “Hell, I regret dropping the class because I miss having a designated ‘nap’ class.”

“That’s rather rude,” Hermione said.

“It’s Hogwarts culture,” Mari said, pulling open her designated drawer in the vanity and pulling out two matching pearl hair clips. If she had extra time she might as well put a little extra effort into her appearance. Normally she just wore her hair down.

“I’m surprised no one’s ‘borrowed’ those yet,” Hermione said.

“My dad cast an advanced enchantment on them to burn anyone who tries to take them without permission.” Mari pinned back a section of her hair on both sides leaving a strand or two out in the front. “A few girls have gone to the infirmary with burnt hands, but I don’t say anything to them. I figure the burn is enough of a scolding.”

When Hermione didn’t answer, fallen silent, Mari looked back, concerned. “What?”

“...Like the cursed necklace?”

Mari stopped, considering it. “Kind of, but only slightly. Enchanting hair clips is far from cursing a necklace, and the enchantment on my hair clips isn’t nearly-”

“Nearly as strong, I know, and an enchantment is light magic and a curse is dark magic. I know all that” She cut her off. “But if your father figured out how to enchant your hair clips, could he also figure out how the necklace was cursed?”

“Probably.” She thought slowly.

“Won’t hurt to ask,” Hermione said.

“Hand me a piece of parchment.” She said quickly, getting up from the vanity to grab one of her pens from her side table. She grabbed the parchment from Hermione’s hand on her way back to the vanity, sat down, and began writing.

“You snuck a pen in?” Hermione asked, watching over Mari’s shoulder as she wrote.

“Think smarter, not harder, Granger,” Mari said, not looking up from her writing.

Hermione rolled her eyes but stayed quiet. “One question,” Mari said once she was done writing.

“Yeah?”

“How does knowing how the necklace was cursed help us?” She asked.

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to learn,” Hermione said. “It could help us later.”

Mari nodded. “Let’s finish getting ready, then head down to the owlery.”

Hermione agreed and they quickly finished getting ready. Mari quickly put on some eyeliner, mascara and red-tinted lip balm then pulled on her socks and shoes while Hermione finished putting on her clothes and taming her hair. The other girls were starting to wake and the sun was rising as they left their dorm.

“Mornin’ Atlas,” Mari said once they reached the owlery and found her owl. He flew to her eagerly when she approached him and landed on her shoulder. She pulled the letter from her bag and he chirped happily. “That’s right I have a letter for you.”

He jumped down from her shoulder to a nearby windowsill so she could secure the letter to his leg.

“He enjoys the journey,” Mari told Hermione. “He gets to stretch his wings.”

Hermione nodded. “And what part of London do you live in, again?”

“Wandsworth.” She answered, “My parents thought it was funny, and apparently so did a whole bunch of other wizards because the neighborhood I grew up in is a hub of 'em. Makes it a bit easier when your neighbors aren’t asking why owls are constantly going to and from your house or why your 7 year old bounced when they fell off the roof.”

“You saw a 7-year-old fall off a roof?”

“No, I fell off my roof, multiple times,” Mari said, then she leaned down and told Atlas where to deliver the letter. “I didn’t always bounce though. One time I got a compound fracture in my leg, pretty nasty, the bone was so far out of my skin. Good thing my neighbor worked at St. Mungo’s and patched it up for me.”

“I’m sorry- How did you fall off your roof several times?” Hermione asked.

“Okay, so the first time was an accident, then I thought the bouncing was cool so I did it again and it worked until it didn’t.” Mari watched Atlas fly off with the letter.

“You jumped off your roof?” 

“I was 7, everyone does dumb shit when they’re 7.” She said defensively as they left the owlery. “It helps shape our personalities.”

Hermione opened her mouth to answer but seemingly thought better of responding and shut it again. After that, the subject changed to wandlore, or Mari spouting out random facts she’d learned the night before that Hermione already knew until they reached the Great Hall for breakfast.

“Where were you two?” Harry asked as they sat down at the Gryffindor table while Ron stuffed his face next to him.

“Owlery,” Mari said. 

“The Owlery?” Harry repeated. “This early?”

“We might have found a way to figure out the curse that was put on the necklace,” Hermione stated quietly, leaning over the table.

“Brilliant. How?”

“My dad gave me these hairpins as a going away gift last year.” Mari pointed to her hair.

“I’m not following,” Harry said.

“Just wait, I’m getting there.” She shook her head. “But before he did he enchanted them to burn anyone who tried to touch them without permission-”

“Wait really?” Ron asked, reaching across the table to touch one, only to rip his hand back, yelping.

“Christ Ronald, she only just told you they’ll burn anyone who touches them without permission! Are you that dimwitted?” Hermione snapped.

Mari, who had been about to say something in a similar vein but not as harsh, sat with her mouth fallen open while Ron held his hand to his chest, looking fearfully at Hermione. “...As I was saying, we figured if my father could figure out how to enchant hairpins, he might be able to figure out how the necklace was cursed so we sent him an owl.”

Harry, who was also visibly surprised by Hermione’s outburst, nodded. “Let us know when he gets back to you.”

“Will do.” She said.

They ate in relative silence until Mari offered to mend Ron’s hand. Harry then made a joke about Charlie and his dragons and the conversation started again, though Hermione didn’t join in and eventually left early for class. It was only when there was 20 minutes until classes started that the 3 left themselves.

They walked together to Potions, reaching the dungeon classroom with 5 minutes to spare. Hermione, seemingly still upset, had slotted herself at a table away from the boys, Ron specifically, and Mari gave her a sympathetic frown to which she shrugged plainly. Draco, Mari noted, was not in class yet. Not that she was upset. She wasn’t exactly excited to face him after their encounter in the empty corridor the night before.

When Slughorn began teaching and Draco still didn’t appear, Mari leaned over to Harry. “Where’s Malfoy?”

Harry looked around, looking for the blonde. When he also realized Draco was missing from the room he looked back to Mari with a confused look on his face and shook his head. “I have no clue.”

“Probably off doing something shady.” She remarked and Harry nodded in agreement before they turned back to the front of the classroom.

Slughorn was halfway through the lesson when Draco finally burst in, standing awkwardly in front of the door when the whole class turned to him. Mari could’ve sworn his eyes caught hers for a second, but they did it was too fast to tell.

“Mr. Malfoy,” Slughorn said. “You’re 34 minutes late.”

“I overslept.” He explained though Mari wasn’t sure if she believed him as it didn’t seem very Malfoy-ish to sleep in but the Professor seemed convinced.

“Very well, I won’t give you detention, this time. However, I will be taking 20 points from Slytherin. Sit down.” He decided.

Mari and Harry exchanged a skeptical look as Draco took a seat with Pansy, Blaise, and another Slytherin whose name Mari couldn’t place. Slughorn quickly resumed his lecture and Mari rested her chin in her palm, doodling on the corner of what was supposed to be her notes, not permitting herself to turn and look at Malfoy despite her urge to.

Once Potions ended Mari split from the boys to head to her Muggle Studies class, an easy A, or O as they put it at Hogwarts, considering her parentage. She liked Professor Burbage. She was an incredibly open-minded professor who didn’t teach that muggles were lesser because they didn’t have magic. A thing Mari was grateful for because she couldn’t stand anyone slandering her mother’s blood status.

They’d been learning about muggle literature most recently and Mari flew through the lesson, raising her hand for practically every question. She almost worried Hermione was rubbing off on her.

Her next class was Charms, she found Cullen where their paths crossed and walked together to class, as they did every day. Once the class started, Flitwick gave them a quick introduction, explaining they’d be having a workday for their wandlore assignment, and sent them to work.

“Bit weird, don’t you think?” Mari said to Cullen, who was rewriting his paragraphs. “Flitwick giving us an assignment, normally this class is so practical.”

“Well, it makes sense we’d learn about wandlore,” He shrugged. “I figure even Flitwick needs a break from practical lessons every now and then.”

She nodded, looking down at her parchment, glancing over her paragraphs. She was still a few people short of the requirement so she glanced around the room. She was friendly with everyone but Draco and Pansy who had tucked themselves into the most secluded seats in the room, the back right corner on the top row.

“Ms. Adler.” Flitwick appeared in front of her and she jumped. “I notice you’ve yet to start working.”

“Oh, I was looking for someone to get wand information from, I’ve only got a few left.” She held up her parchment.

“Ah.” He scanned the room. “How about Mr. Malfoy.”

“Oh no, it’s fine I can just-”

“Is there something wrong with asking Mr. Malfoy?” Flitwick urged, not understanding Mari’s resistance.

“Uh…” She glanced at Cullen for help but he just shrugged so she looked back at Draco then back to the short professor. “...I guess not.”

“Then it’s settled, you and Ms. Parkinson can switch seats for the time being.” 

Cullen deflated like a balloon and Mari reluctantly gathered her stuff, giving Cullen a mournful look before turning to approach Draco and Pansy. She cringed as she reached their spot. Draco noticed her first but didn’t say anything, just stared her down causing Pansy to notice her presence.

“Can we help you?” She spat.

“Flitwick sent me to get Draco’s wand information,” Mari said, a slight edge noticeable in her voice.

“So?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“So, get lost, Parkinson.”

“Ah! Ms. Parkinson, you’re switching seats with Ms. Adler.” Flitwick called from the front of the class.

Pansy rolled her eyes as she gathered her stuff and Mari gave her a fake smile. Pansy then rose from her seat and shoulder checked Mari as she passed. 

“Bitch.” She cursed under her breath in Pansy’s general direction.

“Feeling a bit aggressive this morning, Adler?” Draco finally spoke up as she sat down.

“Shut up, Malfoy.” She spat.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” 

She ignored him, huffing as she pulled out her parchment and pen “What’s your wand wood?”

He was quiet, but Mari could feel his eyes scanning the side of her face as she clicked her pen. “What’s that?” He asked.

“Muggle writing tool,” She said shortly. “Wand wood?” 

He sighed, sitting back into his seat. “Hawthorn.”

She scrawled that down, writing so hard the ink came out darker than normal, and flipped through her textbook until she found hawthorn in the wandlore section. She fell silent as she read the paragraph about the wand wood. At her side, Draco sat forward and looked her over again.

“Got something to say, Malfoy?” She asked flatly, glancing over at him. He continued to study her face, his eyes falling to her lips for a moment before he turned away and opened his own textbook.

“No, nothing to say.” He decided. It was then Mari’s turn to scan his face, trying to read his response but nothing came of it so she turned back to her textbook.

As she read, the words _conflicted, hardship_ and _complex_ stuck out to her. She glanced over at Malfoy, wondering if the lore of his wand could really give her an insight into him. Then she glanced at his paper and her eyes narrowed in confusion.

“How do you know my wand is made of Laurel?”

He looked at her and scoffed. “It’s only circled in your textbook, Adler. Call it an educated guess.”

She didn’t have to look down to know it was, she’d circled it the night before. “Piss off.”

He ignored her. “You don’t happen to have your wand core circled as well?”

“Phoenix feather.” She said, annoyance laced in her voice. She vaguely caught him telling her his had a unicorn tail feather core as she looked down to Cullen who was sitting tensely next to Pansy. Upon feeling her eyes he looked back and gave her a desperate look, mouthing _help_. She gestured to Draco and nodded slowly in agreement.

“What-” Draco interrupted their wordless exchange and she jumped. “Upset your boyfriend is alone with Pansy?”

“He’s not my boyfriend and no,” She said. “I’m upset I have to be alone with you.”

Draco clicked his tongue like he was about to say something but thought better of it and turned back to his book so Mari turned back to hers. She already knew what a unicorn tail hair core meant, but she wondered what that meant coupled with his wand wood. A conflicted wizard who was pure at heart?

That couldn’t be right.

She supposed her belief rested on whether she was thinking the worst or best of him. Then, without meaning to, her eyes fell to Draco’s hands. His fingers, long, slender, and covered in dark silver rings, were nimble as he ran them absentmindedly over the page of his textbook. 

Though the sleeves of his uniform obscured his forearms, she couldn’t help but wonder if he truly had a dark mark hidden beneath the fabric. 

In spite of that lingering question, her mind wandered back to the evening before when he’d cornered her in the empty corridor, his hands on her skin and his eyes tracing her body.

“What are you looking at?” His voice broke her from her thoughts.

“None of your business.” She rolled her eyes, looking back to her paper.

He relaxed back into his seat, twisting the ring on his ring finger. “Have you figured out what my wand information means?”

“Yes.” She stated, annoyed.

“Aren’t you gonna clue me in?” He said, leaning forward to look at her hair. “It is my own wand after all- Did you do your hair this morning?”

Mari saw it coming before it happened. Draco, unaware of the enchantment on her hairpin, lightly touched his fingers to one before ripping his hand back. She grinned to herself, not even looking as it happened.

“According to this, you’re a conflicted person going through a time of hardship who deep down is pure-hearted.” She said cynically as he held his hand in pain. “But that’s obviously wrong.”

“What the hell was that?” He hissed.

She turned to him with no sympathy in her eyes. “That’s what happens when you touch things without permission.”

His gaze on her hardened to a glare and she resumed her assignment. After that, they exchanged nothing more than wand lengths for the rest of class and Mari quickly got away from him once they were dismissed.

“That was fun,” Cullen said sarcastically, as they walked together.

“So fun.” She said back. “How was Pansy?”

“She was staring at me half the time.” He complained.

“I think she _likes_ you.” Mari mocked in a sing-song voice.

He shuddered at the thought but smiled at her happily.

“No seriously, you should go for it.” She joked in a serious voice.

“Pansy Parkinson?” His eyes darted around. “Really?”

Her serious facade cracked and she laughed. “Totally, cause you know she’s just the best person here.”

He grinned, chuckling awkwardly and rubbing the back of his neck. “Actually, Mari, I’ve been meaning to ask-“

“Shit.” She patted her pockets. “I forgot my pen back in class.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” She said. “I only have like 2 of those so I have to go get that. You can just go on to lunch without me.”

“Um- okay.” He frowned as she darted back to the Charms classroom.

“Ah, Ms. Adler.” Flitwick said, looking up as she sped back into the room.

“Forgot my writing utensil.” She said, jogging up to the last row. She still wasn’t sure if pens were allowed at Hogwarts. She found her pen on the floor by where she’d been sitting with Draco. Once it was tucked safely into her cloak pocket she left, wishing Flitwick a good day as she went.

She was halfway to lunch when she heard a taunting voice down a corridor she was passing. She backed up, looking down the hall. At the end of the hall, Lorelei had been cornered by 3 students, Elio Byrnes, Janet Beckerman, a 2nd year Slytherin girl, and a 3rd year Slytherin boy whose name Mari didn’t know, something Denton maybe.

“A little baby like you shouldn’t be in Gryffindor.” Elio sneered, knocking Lorelei’s stuff from her hands.

“L-leave me alone.” She tried to stand up for herself, but the shake in her voice took the bite from it.

“Aw, baby Briggs is st-st-stuttering.” Janet mocked with a fake pout.

“Hey!” Mari said, turning down the hallway. “What do you 3 think you’re doing?”

They jerked their heads, stepping away from Lorelei as Mari approached, the hard look on her face making her an intimidating presence 

“We’re just having some fun,” Denton said, looking between the two Gryffindors. “Isn’t that right, Briggs?”

Mari stepped closer to him, allowing Lorelei to fall behind her. Mari wasn’t very tall, falling somewhere between 5’5 and 5’6, but of the 3 bullies only Denton was taller than her and not by much, that coupled with age and reputation made her formidable against them. 

“Really?” She asked, casting her glare up upon them before turning back to the younger girl. “Are you having fun, Lorelei?”

She meekly shook her head.

“Hear that?” Mari said. “She’s not having fun.”

“We definitely were,” Elio said, snickering.

“Getting brave now are we, Byrnes?” She singled him out and he gulped under her glare.

“C’mon, Silas.” Janet pulled on Denton’s arm. “Let’s just go.”

So that was his name, Silas Denton.

“Yeah, Silas. Go.” Mari said.

Reluctantly, Silas left, Janet and Elio rushing behind him. Once they’d turned the corner and were out of sight Mari turned back to Lorelei.

“You good?” The glare left her face.

“They’re just mean.” She shook her head as they squatted down to pick up the books Elio had knocked from her hands.

“How long have they been giving you trouble?” Mari asked.

Lorelei looked at the ground. “A few weeks.”

“A few weeks?” 

“Yeah.”

“Have you told your brother-”

“No! Don’t tell him.”

“Woah.” Mari held her hands up defensively. “I won’t, no need to yell.”

“Sorry.” Lorelei hung her head. “It’s just if Cullen knew, he’d baby me about it.”

“Alright. I get it.” Mari said as they stood up. She placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder as they walked to the great hall together. “I do know how we could teach them a lesson though.”

“Didn’t you just teach them a lesson though?” She looked around, confused. “They seemed pretty scared of you.”

“What I did back there?” Mari said. “That was just intimidating them a little bit. That wasn’t teaching them a lesson.”

“Okay. So how would we teach them a lesson?”

“Three words.” She grinned. “Weasleys Wizard Wheezes.”

“The new shop in Diagon Alley?” 

“Yeah, I’m friends with the owners. They’re Ron and Ginny’s, brothers.” Mari nodded. “So what’ll we choose? Edible Dark Marks? Nosebleed Nougats? Ton-Tongue Toffees, maybe?”

“That doesn’t sound rather pleasant.” Lorelei frowned as they entered the Great Hall.

“Well, they're not supposed to be pleasant. We’re teaching them a lesson.” Mari said. “Maybe we should just get a whole Skiving Snackbox?”

Lorelei was quiet, letting Mari plot out loud as they sat down at Gryffindor table. She then pulled out a piece of parchment to write the twins.

“Who are you writing?” Ginny asked as she and Neville sat down.

“Fred and George.”

“Why?” She furrowed her brows in confusion.

“Plot to deal with Rory’s bullies.”

Ginny nodded. “Ah, okay.”

“I intimidated them a bit but I figured some Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes might teach them a lesson.”

“How’d you do that, by the way?” Lorelei asked.

“Intimidate them?”

“Yeah.”

Mari shook her head. “It’s just an age thing.”

“She’s just being modest,” Ginny said. “It’s her reputation.”

“What reputation?” Lorelei asked.

“Mari’s scary when it comes to dueling,” Neville said.

“Ha. Mari’s scary.” She mused to herself as she wrote her letter. “That rhymed.”

“People just forget because most of the time she acts...like that.” Ginny pointed at her.

“What do you mean by scary?” 

“Let’s just say, you never want to be an enemy on the opposite end of her wand.”

“I love it when you guys stroke my ego.” Mari grinned, not looking up from her writing.

Ginny rolled her eyes and ignored the comment. “We found out she had a knack for it when we were messing around by the lake a few years back. Then when Harry started Dumbledore's Army last year she really flourished.” 

Lorelei nodded slowly and furrowed her brows in thought for a moment before looking up at Mari. “Could you teach me?”

“What, to duel?” Her eyes flickered from the paper.

“Yeah, if I could hold my own against Silas and his 1st-year minions I wouldn’t have to worry about them.”

Mari raised her brows. “Technically, dueling is against school rules at the risk of being expelled…” She paused like she was considering it. “But considering the oncoming perils of the wizarding world, would they really punish an upperclassman for teaching their underclassmen how to defend themself?”

“Stop beating around the bush, Mari.” Ginny rolled her eyes. “We all know you’ve never been one to be concerned with rules.”

“Damn it, Ginny. I was building suspense.” She complained. “Yes, Lori, I can teach you the basics of dueling.”

“Thank you.”

“And, Ginny, I bet you’ve got some hexes you could teach her as well.”

“That I do.” She grinned.

Once lunch was over Mari headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts with Neville, a class that had become rather boring since Snape took over. Though, watching Harry sass Snape almost made it worth it. That day the whole class consisted of Snape droning on about vampires. 

Mari, who had issues with paying attention, hated lecture days, even more so when it was Snape lecturing, so she spent the whole class doodling on her parchment and muttering quiet complaints to Neville. Once she got through Snape’s lecture, Mari moved through the rest of the day with ease.

At the end of the school day, she headed to the Owlery for the second time that day to send her letter to the twins. She wasn’t in any rush, since the Ravenclaw team had the Quidditch pitch for practice that evening. Mari wasn’t sure exactly how the scheduling for who got the pitch worked, she just showed up whenever Harry told them there was practice.

After the long walk up the Owlery stairs, she found Lucille sending off her large Great Grey Owl. 

“Lucille.” Mari started, prompting the younger girl to jump, then let out a sigh of relief at seeing it was only Mari. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this. People will talk.”

“Jesus, Mari. You scared me.”

“Did I?” She said with partial sarcasm as she crossed the room to find one of the school's owls as she’d sent Atlas out that morning. 

Lucy rolled her eyes and watched Mari attach her letter to an owl. “Who’s it to?”

“I shall name you Juno,” She said quietly to the tawny owl she’d picked, taking a mental note of the markings around its eyes before she answered Lucy. “The Weasley twins.”

“Oh,” Lucy said. “You should tell them I’m a fan.”

“A fan?” Mari arched a brow and looked back at her.

“Of their pranks.” 

“Ah,” She nodded in understanding. “Any prank in particular?”

Lucy thought for a moment while Mari sent Juno out the window. “The portable swamp prank last year was pretty good.”

Mari grinned. “I helped them with that one.” 

Lucy gaped at her. “You did?” 

“I did.” She nodded. “I helped them with a lot of their pranks.”

“How did I not know that?” 

“Because-” Mari pushed off the windowsill- “I let them receive all the glory… and all the punishment.”

“Smart.” Lucy grinned.

Mari opened her mouth to give a cocky remark about the compliment but was cut off by the sound of someone entering the owlery. The girls turned to the source: Draco with a letter in hand. For a moment it seemed like he didn’t notice them but then he turned his head up at them and scoffed causing Mari to sneer.

She turned to Lucy, dead set on ignoring the blonde, who’s eyes she could feel on her skin. “Let’s go.”

Lucy looked between the two then nodded. “Yeah.”

Without another word they left.

“You two really don’t like each other, do you?” Lucy said once they were out of earshot.

“We’re enemies,” Mari said matter-of-factly.

Lucy chuckled. “Makes sense- oh-” her eyes widened like she’d remembered something. “I’ve been meaning to tell you, I have a chance for you to piss Malfoy off-”

“I’m sold.”

“-There’s a Slytherin-only party on Friday and my friends and I have set out to have as many people from other houses crash it as possible.” 

Mari made a face like a child in a candy shop, eyes brimming with wonder as ideas filled her mind. “Lucille Torrent, I love you.”

She laughed. “So just tell as many friends as you can.”

“Oh, I will.” Mari grinned devilishly, knowing her list of friends was a long one. Crashing a Slytherin party might be the very thing she needed to lift her spirits...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y’all, I know I just dropped off the face of the planet for like a month and a half but I was depressed. However, I recently got medicated so hopefully that’ll help. 
> 
> In other news I recently started watching anime, pretty cool, and I have 3% in my Biology class so my life is going VERY well.
> 
> Anyways, as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> Peace✌️


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